Using acupoint-to-acupoint penetrative needling to treat poststroke spastic paralysis:a clinical progress review

OBJECTIVE: To determine the characteristics and advantages of acupoint-to-acupoint penetrative needling(AAPN) treatment for post-stroke spastic paralysis(PSSP) to improve the clinical outcomes of this disease in the future.METHODS: Randomized, controlled trials of PSSP patients receiving AAPN treatment were searched from MEDLINE, EMBASE, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database between January 2006 and June 2013. Key words included: clinic or clinical, acupuncture, needling, acupoint-to-acupoint, penetrative or penetration or penetrating,stroke or apoplexy or cerebral infarction or cerebral hemorrhage, spastic paralysis or spasticity or palsy,and hypermyotonia. Language was limited to English and Chinese. Case series reports, review articles, and animal studies were excluded.RESULTS: AAPN showed better clinical results on PSSP than other acupuncture treatments, especially when combined with adjunct therapies such as electroacupuncture, bloodletting, and rehabilitation. The greatest benefit was achieved with rehabilitation combined with penetration from Yang-channel acupoints to Yin-channel acupoints in the upper limbs, and from Yin-channel acupoints to Yang-channel acupoints in the lower limbs with a reinforcing maneuver.CONCLUSION: AAPN is an effective treatment for PSSP, and it can accelerate and enhance functional repair of PSSP patients.

Preparation and Endothelialization of Multi-level Vessel-like Network in Enzymated Gelatin Scaffolds

Loss of function of large tissues is an urgent clinical problem. Although the artificial microfluidic network fabricated in large tis- sue-engineered constructs has great promise, it is still difficult to develop an efficient vessel-like design to meet the requirements of the biomimetic vascular network for tissue engineering applications. In this study, we used a facile approach to fabricate a branched and multi-level vessel-like network in a large muscle scaffolds by combining stereolithography （SL） technology and enzymatic crosslinking mechanism. The morphology of microchannel cross-sections was characterized using micro-computed tomography. The square cross-sections were gradually changed to a seamless circular microfluidic network, which is similar to the natural blood vessel. In the different micro-channels, the velocity greatly affected the attachment and spread of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cell （HUVEC）-Green Fluorescent Protein （GFP）. Our study demonstrated that the branched and multi-level microchannel network simulates biomimetic microenvironments to promote endothelialization. The gelatin scaffolds in the circular vessel-like networks will likely support myoblast and surrounding tissue for clinical use.