The Effect Of Acupuncture "Guanyuan" And "Xiajuxu" On Ghrelin, IL-1? And IL-4 In Rats With Stress Ulcer Model

Stress refers to a state in which the dynamic balance of the internal environment is disturbed by harmful internal or external stimuli,such as trauma,surgery,infection,shock,and persistent Stress.The gastrointestinal tract is the main organ in response to stress.Stress Ulcer(SU)is one of the common gastrointestinal diseases caused by Stress.Epidemiological investigation shows that with the rapid development of society,contemporary people are faced with such problems as increasing life pressure,worsening environmental pollution,irregular diet and rest schedule,and are in such a harmful stress state for a long time,which leads to the prevalence rate of gastrointestinal ulcer rising year by year.A large number of studies have proved that the clinical manifestations of stress ulcer are mainly acute erosion and ulcer of gastrointestinal mucosa,and severe ulcers are accompanied by massive gastrointestinal bleeding,which is characterized by easy recurrence and low cure rate.If not treated in a timely manner,the prognosis is poor.Therefore,it is very important to study the mechanism and prevention of stress ulcer.The pathogenesis of stress ulcer is complex and there is no uniform conclusion.At present,most studies believe that the occurrence and development of SU are related to the changes in the level of brain intestinal peptide in the brain-gut axis,the regulation of neuroendocrine-immunity,the enhancement of gastrointestinal mucosal injury factors or the weakening of the barrier mechanism.Severe outside or mental stimulation on the effect of nerve-endocrine-immune system,to produce a large number of inflammatory cytokines,as abnormally elevated inflammatory factor,promote the inflammatory cytokines and anti inflammatory cytokine imbalance can lead to gastrointestinal mucosa damage,at the same time,through brain gut axis,ghrelin influence the change of whole body metabolic and endocrine,also in the prevention and control of the pathological development of gastric ulcer and plays an important role.In stress ulcer of stomach and duodenum belong to TCM "Wei Wan Tong","Fu Tong","Pi Zheng" category,such as the early experiments have proved that acupuncture "Zhungwan"(CV12),"Zusanli"(ST36)could be regulated and controlled by the brain gut axis have the effect of treatment of gastric ulcer.In this experiment,the combination of "Guanyuan"(CV4)and "Xiajuxu"(ST39)were selected as acupuncture intervention points to observe the changes of Ghrelin content,IL-1 and IL-4 content in the brain tissue and serum of rats before and after acupuncture,and to explore the therapeutic effect and mechanism of gastrointestinal SU treated by this regimen.ObjectiveTo observe the effects of acupuncture of "Guanyuan"(CV4)and "Xiajuxu"(ST39)on histopathological changes of the gastric mucosa and contents of Ghrelin in the serum and brain tissue,IL-1? and IL-4 in the serum on rats with stress-induces ulcer(SU),so as to reveal its mechanisms underlying improvement of SU.MethodA total of 28 male SD rats were randomly divided into blank control,model,acupuncture and medication group,with 7 rats in each group.The SU model was established by water immersion restraint stress for 3h.AcuPuncture was applied to "Guanyuan"(CV4)and bilateral"Xiajuxu"(ST39)for 20 min,once a day for 5 days.The gastric mucosal damage index(ulcer index,UI)was measured the assess the injury severity according to Guth's:methods.Histopathological changes of the gastric mucosa were determined by HE.staining.The contents of Ghrelin in the serum and brain tissue,IL-1? and IL-4 in the serum were assayed by using ELISA.ResultOutcomes of HE.staining showed gastric mucosal ePithelia defect,disordered arrangement of glands,obvious mucosal hyperemia and edema,exudation of a large number of res blood cells,swelling of mucosal cells with necrosis of nuclei in the model group.These situations were relatively milder in the acupuncture and medication groups.After modeling,the UI and the contents of IL-1? in the serum were significantly increased(P<0.01,P<0.01),meanwhile the contents of Ghrelin in the serum and brain tissue,IL-4 in the serum were significantly decreased(P<0.01,P<0.01,P<0.05)comparison with the blank control group.Following the intervention,the UI and the contents of IL-1? in the serum were all down-regulated in both medication and acupuncture groups relevant to the model group(Medication:P<0.05,P<0.01;Acupuncture:P<0.01,P<0.01).The contents of Ghrelin in the serum and brain tissue,IL-4 in the serum were up-regulated in both medication and acupuncture groups relevant to the model group(Medication:P<0.05,P<0.05,P<0.01;Acupuncture:P<0.05,P<0.01,P<0.01).The therapeutic effect on acuPuncture was notably superior to that of medication in down-regulating the UI and the contents of IL-1? in the serum(P<0.05,P<0.01)and up-regulated the contents of Ghrelin in the serum and brain tissue,IL-4 in the serum(P<0.05,P<0.05,P<0.05).Conclusion.Acupuncture can relieve mucosal injury induced by stress in water immersion restraint stress rats,which may be associated with the effects in down-regulating the levels of IL-1? in serum and uP-regulating the levels of Ghrelin in the serum and brain tissue,IL-4 in the serum(by restoring the dynamic balance of brain-gut PePtide and maintaining the relative homeostasis of inflammatory factors).