| Objective:In order to investigate the intervention effect of acupuncture and preventive acupuncture on the damages of liver and kidney of rats imposed bysimulated weightlessness,find the best intervention time and explore the potential mechanisms,we established rats simulated weightlessness model by tail suspension, and observed the effects on histopathology, function and oxidative stress of liver and kidney in rats.Methods:Thirty-two male clean grade wister rats were randomly divided into a normal group,a model group,a pre-acupuncture group and an acupuncture group,8 rats in each one.The rats in the normal group did not receive any treatment but free activities for 4 weeks.The model of simulated weightlessness was established by tail suspension for 4 week.One week before the tail suspension, the rats in the pre-acupuncture group were treated with electroacupuncture at "Shenshu(BL23)", "Pishu"(BL20) and "Sanyinjiao"(SP60) for 30 min per treatment, once a day for 7 days.The rats in the acupuncture group received tail suspension and acupuncture at the same time,during the tail suspension,the electroacupuncture was applied at "Shenshu(BL23)", "Pishu"(BL20) and "Sanyinjiao"(SP60), for 30min per treatment, once every other day for 14 days.The histopathological changes of liver and kidney were observed by microscope(×40) after HE staining. The colourimetric method was used to measure the activity of alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST) and the content of urea nitrogen(BUN),creatinine(CRE) in the serum in each group. The immunohistochemistry method was used to measure expression of heat shock 70 kDa protein(HSP70) in liver and kidney. The colourimetric method was used to measure the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD) and glutathion peroxidase(GSH-PX),the content of malondialdehyde(MDA) and nitrogen monoxide(NO) of the liver and kidney tissue in each group.Results:1 The mental state and the tail skin of rats is good in each group.The weight of rats had a slow and steady growth in model,pre-acupuncture and acupuncture group.2 The activity of ALT,AST and the content of BUN,CRE in the serum of rats,which were the most important serum biochemical indicators of liver and kidney function,were detected by using colourimetric methods.The results in the model group showed that the activity of ALT and the content of BUN were significantly higher compared with that in normal group (P<0.05, P<0.01); Compared with the model group,the activity of ALTand the content of BUN was significantly reduced (P<0.05, P<0.01) in the pre-acupuncture group;However,the content of BUN in the acupuncture groupwas significantly reduced (P<.05).3 The microscopic examination was carried out for histopathological changes of liver and kidney.Hematoxylin and eosin(HE) staining of hepatic tissue shows that massive degeneration of liver cells were observed consistently around the central vein and there were abundant bile duct proliferation and inflammatory cell infiltraion in the portal area of the rats in model group,which were relieved by electroacupuncture treatment,and the curative effect of the pre-acupuncture group was better than the acupuncture group. Severe pathological lesions of kidney of rats were observed,including degeneration, necrosis of renal tubular epithelial cells, tubular dilation and a large area of karyopyknosis in model group,which were relieved by electroacupuncture treatment,and there was no significant difference of the curative effect between pre-acupuncture group and acupuncture group.4 Compared with the normal group, the expression of HSP70 in the model group was a strong positive result in liver, the content of HSP70,MDA and NO in liver was increased significantly(both P<0.01), and the activity of SOD and GSH-PX was significantly reduced(both P<0.05).Compared with the model group,the content of HSP70 and NO of liver in the pre-acupuncture group was significantly reduced(P<0.01, P<0.05),but,there were no significant changes of all indexes in the acupuncture group.Compared with the pre-acupuncture group, the activity of GSH-PX in the acupuncture group was lower (P<0.05),and the content of MDA and NO in the acupuncture group was higher(both P<0.01).Meanwhile,compared with the normal group, the expression of HSP70 in the model group was a strong positive result in kidney,and the content of HSP70 wasincreased significantly (P<0.01),the activity of SOD and GSH-PX was significantly reduced(both P<0.01),and the content ofMDA and NO in kidney was increased significantly(P<0.05, P<0.01); Compared with the model group,the content of HSP70 and NO of kidney in the pre-acupuncture group was significantly reduced(P<0.01,P<0.05), the activity of GSH-PX of kidney was increased significantly(P<0.05). The content of HSP70 of renal medulla in the acupuncture group was significantly reduced(P<0.01),but, the content of NO of kidney was increased significantly in the acupuncture group(P<0.01);Finally,compared with the pre-acupuncture group, the content of HSP70 of the renal cortex and MDA of kidney in the acupuncture group was higher (both P<0.01)Conclusion:1 The result showed that the activity of ALT and the content of BUN were significantly higher after 4 weeks tail suspension, suggesting that the liver and kidney function were impaired by tail suspension. Both pre-acupuncture and acupuncture can improve the function of liver and kidney of simulated weightlessness rats,and there was no significant difference between them.2 Severe pathological lesions of kidney and liver were observed after four weeks tail suspension, which can relieve by electroacupuncture treatment,and the capacity to relieving the injury of liverstructure of the pre-acupuncture group is superior to that in the acupuncture group,but there was no significant difference between them for the kidney structure injury.3 The level of HSP70, SOD,GSH-PX,MDA and NO in the liver and kidney of rats were measured. Compared with the normal group,the HSP70,MDA and NO levels in the liver and kidney were increased significantly, and the levels of SOD and GSH-PX in the liver and kidney were significantly decreased.The results indicated that the antioxidant function in the liver and kidney cells of the tail suspended rats was obviously decreased,which might be involved in the impairment of liver and kidney under simulated weightlessness. The result of aforementioned indicators in pre-acupuncture group demonstrated that electro-acupuncture pretreatment could enhance the activity of SOD and GSH-PX in the liver and kidney,and improve host ability of liver and kidney to clear free radical imposed by tail suspension,but acupuncture treatment has no obvious curative effect. Our finding indicates that the ability of electro-acupuncture pretreatment to relieve the oxidative damage of liver and kidney caused by tail suspension is superior to acupuncture treatment, which is likely to be related with improving antioxidant ability of liver and kidney.
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