YE Yijun, LU Yusun, ZHOU Xue, CHEN Huiyi, XUE Shiyong, KUAI Le

(1.College of  Acu-moxibustion and Tuina, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicin, Shanghai 201203, China)

Abstract:  Objective:  To  observe  effect  of  acupuncture  intervention  on  the  diarrhea,  mucosal thickness of the small  intestine，plasma endotoxin(ET)  and D-lactic acid(D-LA)  contents, and diamine oxidase(DAO) activity in 5-Fluorouracil(5-Fu)  induced intestinal mucosal damage rats, in order to provide an experimental basis for acupuncture therapy in improving chemotherapyinduced  intestinal  mucosa  injury.Methods:Thirty  female  SD  rats  were randomly  divided  into control group, model group and acupuncture group(n=10 in each group). The intestinal mucosal damage model was established by intraperitoneal injection of 5-Fu(50mg/kg,  for  six  consecutive  days).  Acupuncture  stimulation  was  applied  to  bilateral “Tianshu”(ST 25) and “Zusanli”(ST 36) once a day for six consecutive days. The changes of body weight and diarrhea score (0-3 points, according to Kurita's methods) as well as mucosal thickness of the small intestine  were determined. The plasma ET and D-LA contents, and DAO activity were measured by ELISA. Results: On the sixth day, the body weight was significantly higher in the acupuncture group than in the model group(P＜0.05). After intraperitoneal injection of 5-Fu, both the incidence rate and average score of diarrhea reached the peak on the sixth day in the model and acupuncture groups, and were significantly lower in the acupuncture group than in the model group(P＜0.01).  On the seventh day, the mucosal thickness of small intestine was significantly lower in the model group than in the control group(P＜0.05), but had no remarkable changes after acupuncture intervention(P＞0.05). The contents of plasma ET and D-LA and DAO activity level were significantly higher in the model group than in the control group, and markedly decreased in the  acupuncture  group  than  in  the  model  group(P ＜ 0.01).  Conclusion:  Acupuncture intervention can lower the incidence rate and average score of  diarrhea and down-regulate the increased  plasma  ET  and  D-LA  contents  and  DAO  activity  levels  in  5-Fu  induced  intestinal mucosal  damage  rats,  suggesting  a  somewhat  protective  effect  of  acupuncture  against chemotherapy induced damage of the intestinal mucosal barrier.

Key words: Acupuncture treatment, 5-Fluorouracil,Chemotherapy,Diarrhea, Damage of intestinal mucosal barrier