DU Lin, TAN Cheng-fu, WANG Chao, TANG Yani, CHEM Meilin, LIU Weiwei, FENG Guo, SONG Jin,LI Jiao-lan

(College of Accu-moxibustion and Massage, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410007, China)

Abstract:  Objective:  T o observe the effect of acupuncture preconditioning on myocardial LC  3 protein expression  of autophagy in myocardial ischemia rats, to investigate whether acupuncture preconditioning on myocardial ischemia by improving myocardial autophagy and the ability to play similar protective effect on  heart ischemicpreconditioning.  Methods:  A  total  of  40  SD  rats  were  randomly  divided  into  sham operation group, model group, ischemic pretreatment(IP)group, EA group and moxibustion group, (n=8 in each).EA and Moxi  pretreatment were respectively applied to bilateral “Neiguan”(PC  6) for 20 min, once daily  for  7  days.The  model  of  myocardial  ischemia  was  induced  by  ligation  of  coronary  artery  after pretreatment at 7 days.The pathological and ultrastructural changes of left ventricular ischemia tissue were observed under light and transmission electronic miroscope(TEM),respectively.Tunel was used to detect the apoptosis and apoptosis index of myocardial cell,and the expression of LC 3 in myocardial cells were detected by Western blot.  Results:  In the sham operation group, the morphology of the cardiomyocytes was incomplete, the mitochondria were complete and the autophagic vacuoles were seen. Compared with the sham  operation  group,  the  myocardial  cells  in  the  model  group  were  not  complete,  the  disorder  was arranged, the muscle fibers were dissolved,  the mitochondria were enlarged, Compared with the model group, the myocardial cells in the IP group, the electroacupuncture group and the moxibustion group were less damaged, the muscle fibers were dissipated, the mitochondria were rich, the number of aut ophagic cavities  and  lysosomes  increased.The  apoptotic  index  in  the  sham  operation  group,  IP  group, electroacupuncture group and moxibustion group were lower than that in the model group(P＜0.05),The apoptotic index in electroacupuncture group and moxibustion group was lower than that in IP group(P＜0.05);The ratio of expression of LC 3 II and LC 3 II/I of model group was ascended compared with sham operation group(P<0.05), and the ratio of expression of LC 3 II and LC 3 II/I of EA  group andmoxibustion group  was declined  compared with sham operation group(P<0.05),and the ratio of expression of LC  3  II and LC  3  II/I  of EA   group  was also raised compared with  IP group(P<0.05),but there was no significant difference  in  the  moxibustion  group(P>0.05).  Conclusion:  Acupuncture  preconditioning  can  produce similar  cardioprotective  effects  as  ischemic  preconditioning,improve  cell  autophagy  and  reduce  cell apoptosis.

Key  words:  Acupuncture  and  massage,  Acupuncture  pretreatment,  Myocardial  ischemia, Autophagy, LC3.