Objective

2

To investigate the possible mechanism of needling at Dazhui （GV 14）， Baihui （GV 20） and Shuigou （GV 26） in the treatment of cerebral ischemia reperfusion injury （CIRI） from the perspective of hippocampus gene expression.

Methods

2

Thirty-nine SD rats were randomly divided into sham operation group， model group， and acupunture group with 13 rats in each group. The CIRI model in rats was established by suture method in the model group and acupuncture group. After modelling， the sham operation group and model group were only bundled without needling， while the acupuncture group was bundled and treated by needling at Dazhui， Baihui and Shuigou with 30 min of needle retention and performing twirling method every 15 min， using even supplementation and drainage method， once every 12 h， 7 times altogether. The neurological deficit scores were evaluated before and after treatment. TTC staining was used to detect the status of cerebral infarction after treatment. The circRNAs microarry chip was used to analyze differential circRNAs expression in the hippocampus tissue of the ischemic side of CIRI rats， and qRT-PCR was used to verify it.

Results

2

Before treatment， the neurological deficit score of model group and acupuncture group were lower than that of the sham operation group （

P

＜0.01）； after treatment， the neurological deficit score of acupuncture group significantly increased， and was higher than that of the model group （

P

＜0.05）. Compared to that of the model group， the cerebral infarction ratio in the acupuncture group was reduced （

P

＜0.05）. CircRNA microarray analysis showed that 215 circRNAs were differentially expressed in the model group/ sham operation group， including 59 up-regulated and 156 down-regulated ones. Five circRNAs were differentially expressed in the acupuncture group/sham operation group， of which one was up-regulated and four were down-regulated. Compared with the model group， there were 2 up-regulated circRNAs in acupuncture group. There were two differential genes co-expressed in the model group/sham operation group and the acupuncture group/model group， namely circ-011989 and circ-009775. The differential gene circ-011989 with the highest co-expression differential gene |log2 FC|≥1.5 was selected for verification. The results showed that compared to that in the sham operation group， the expression of circ-011989 in the model group decreased （

P

＜0.05）； compared to that in the model group， the expression of circ-011989 increased in acupuncture group （

P

＜0.05）.

Conclusion

2

Needling at “Baihui”， “Shuigou” and “Dazhui” can improve the neurological defect score and reduce the cerebral infarction ratio of CIRI model Rats. The mechanism may be related to the regulation of the expression of circ-011989 in the ischemic side hippocampus.