The mechanism of electroacupuncture for treating spinal cord injury rats by mediating Rho/Rho-associated kinase signaling pathway

Abstract

Objective: To determine the changes of gene and protein expression through Rho/ROCK signaling pathway in EA treated spinal cord injury (SCI) rats and to unveil the possible underlying mechanism.

Design: Animal study.

Setting: Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Participants: Eighty Male Sprague Dawley rats.

Interventions: Electroacupuncture at Yaoyangguan (GV3), Dazhui (GV14), Zusanli (ST36) and Ciliao (BL32) and/or blocking agent Y27632 treatment.

Outcome Measures: Protein expression was detected by ELISA and Western blotting, mRNA expression was detected by quantitative PCR and in situ hybridization. Morphological changes in spinal cord were evaluated by HE-staining and Nissl staining. Hindlimb motor function in the rats was evaluated by Basso–Beattie–Bresnahan (BBB) assessment methods.

Results: Compared with injured rats in SCI group, EA, blocking agent Y27632 and EA + blocking agent Y27632 treatment had significantly reduced mRNA and protein expression levels of RhoA and ROCKII, decreased p-MLC protein expression and p-MLC/MLC ratio, suppressed cPLA2 activity and PGE₂ level, improved spinal cord tissue morphology and BBB score of lower limb movement function at 7 days and at 14 days (P < 0.01 or <0.05).

Conclusion: Similar to the blocking agent Y27632, EA may have a notable inhibitory effect on the Rho/ROCK signaling pathway after SCI, therefore reducing the inhibition of axonal growth and inflammatory reaction may be a key mechanism of EA treatment for SCI.

Keywords:

• RhoA
• ROCKII
• SCI
• MLC
• cPLA2
• PGE₂
• Y27632
• Electroacupuncture

Acknowledgments

Professor Jian-ming WAN in Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine provides the guidance of animal model building and the equipment of electric Cortical Contusion Impactor.

Ethics statement

The experiments were performed under the supervision and assessment of the Laboratory Animal Ethics Committee of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China (permit no. JZLLSC2018-0036).

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding authors on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (CN) (No. 81360562, 81904289).