[Effect of electroacupuncture preconditioning on cell apoptosis mediated by mitochondrial reactive oxygen species in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury rats].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) preconditioning on cell apoptosis and the content of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) in rats with myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MIRI), so as to explore their mechanisms underlying improvement of MIRI. METHODS: Eighty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into control, sham, ischemia reperfusion (IR) and EA groups, with 20 rats in each group. Rats of the control, sham and IR groups were just banded on the boards for 30 min, once daily for 7 days. Before modeling, EA (2 Hz, 1 mA) was applied to "Neiguan" (PC6), "Zusanli" (ST36), "Guanyuan"(CV4) for 20 min, once daily for 7 successive days in the EA group. The MIRI model was established by occlusion of the left anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery for 20 min, followed by reperfusion for 30 min. Ventricular arrhythmia (VA) score was used to evaluate arrhythmia. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect the level of CK-MB. DHE staining was used to detect the content of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The gene expression levels of cytochrome C (Cyt-C), Caspase-9 and Caspase-3 were detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR. CONCLUSION: The protective effect of EA preconditioning on MIRI may be based on the regulation of ROS mediated-apoptosis pathway.