方氏头针对血管性痴呆大鼠海马组织中炎性因子TNF-α表达的影响

Effects of Scalp Acupuncture on the Expression of TNF-α in Hippocampal Region of Rats with Vascular Dementia

目的:观察各组大鼠海马组织中炎性因子TNF-α表达的变化,探讨方氏头针治疗VD的作用机理。方法:将40只健康大鼠随机分为正常组、假手术组、模型组和头针组4组各10只,通过改良的4-VO法制备VD模型,随后头针组进行选穴针刺,余3组正常喂养,10 d后采用Morris水迷宫检测各组大鼠学习记忆能力的变化,ELLSA检测大鼠海马区TNF-α表达的变化。结果:与正常组比较,模型组大鼠的平均逃避潜伏期及首次跨越原象限平台的时间均有明显延长,海马组织中TNF-α表达也明显升高,而经头皮针治疗后,大鼠的平均逃避潜伏期及首次跨越原象限平台的时间明显缩短,TNF-α表达明显降低,正常组与假手术组比较差异无统计学意义。结论:方氏头针可以有效改善VD大鼠的学习记忆能力,这可能与方氏头皮针可以调控大鼠海马组织中TNF-α的表达有关。

Objectives： This study was intended to observe the effect of scalp acupuncture on the expression of TNF-α in the hippocampal region and explore how to improve vascular dementia with Fang＇ s scalp acupuncture. Methods： Forty male rats were arbitrarily put into four groups each with 10 rats： normal group, mock group, model group and Fang＇ s scalp acupuncture group. We used a revised Pulsinelli 4-vessel-occlusion technique to build a vascular dementia model and performed acupuncture on the points of ＂Si Wei＂, ＂Dao Zang Shang Jiao＂, and ＂Ji Yi＂. Acupuncture was applied on those points in the rats for 30 minutes per day. With the Morris water maze, the rats were examined for their capability in learning and memorizing. The enzyme linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the expression of TNF-α in the hippocampal region. Results： It was found that the expression of TNF-α in the model group was significantly higher than that in the mock and normal groups. It was also seen that the increase in TNF-α was effectively suppressed in the scalp acupuncture group, resulting in the improvement in the memorizing and learning capabilities of the rats. Conclusions： This study indicated that the Fang＇ s scalp acupuncture was an effective way to treat the vascular dementia of rats by blocking the expression of TNF-α in the hippocampal region, leading to the improvement in their ability in learning and memorizing.