| [Objective]Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) is a common brain injury, which is associated mainly with premature delivery, hypoxia, ischemia, infection, hyperbilirubinemia, and mechanical ventilation. As an important clinical treatment of Chinese medicine, acupuncture is effective for cerebrovascular disease. The purpose of this study is to study the effects of acupuncture therapy for brain development and myelination of immature rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage.[Methods]15 pregnant rats were divided into experimental group (n=10) and control group (n=5) randomly. On the 21th day after pregnancy, these rats were operated on using the uterine-incision delivery method under inhalation anesthesia with vinic ether. In the control group, routine operation was performed. In the experimental group, tardive uterine-incision delivery method under 37℃water (15 minutes) was performed. 40 newborn rats acquired from the control group form the newborn control group (group A). The other 80 newborn rats acquired from the experiment group were divided into two groups: 40 in the model group (group B) and 40 in the acupuncture group (group C). For every group, Observation data were collected five times on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 7th and 28th day after birth. The observed indexes include neuroethology detection, body weight, brain weight, pathology detection and apoptosis cells detection. In group C, all rats received acupuncture therapy once per day for 21 days, starting from the 7th day after birth. Rats in groups A and B were raised in the same environment without any treatment.[Results]1. Condition of growth and development :Rats in group A were normal in growth and development, while those in groups B and C showed growth and development retardation. The differences were statistically significant (P <0.05). 28 days after birth, group A body weight data were significantly higher than groups B and C, and group C body weight data were significantly higher than group B. Three days after birth, there were no significant differences in brain weight between the groups. 7 days after birth, group A brain weight data were higher than the other two groups (P <0.05). 28 days after birth, Group A brain weight data were higher than the other two groups, group C brain weight data were higher than group B, and the differences were statistically significant (P <0.05).2. neuroethology detection:For group A, results of suspension tests, slope tests and open-field tests were significantly higher than those for group B and C, while results for group C were significantly higher than those for group B. The differences were statistically significant (P <0.05).3. Pathology detection:Tissue HE staining: Lateral cerebral ventricle white matter were normal in group A, but were in disorder and net necrosis in group B and group C, and various cell proliferation and ventricular dilatation were present in some rats in groups B and C in the later development stage. After treatment, white matter disoder was improved and necrosis was minificated for group C rats. Myelin staining: Myelin was regular and uniform in group A, but irregular in groupB and C. After treatment, myelin regularity was improved.4. Apoptosis cells detection:Very few apoptotic cells were observed in group A rats since birth. In group B and C, the number of apoptotic cells started to increase one day after birth, and the rate of increase is highest on the 2nd day. The apoptotic cells mainly consisted of O4-labeled positive oligodendrocytes. 7 days after birth the number of apoptotic cells decreased in groups B and C rats, but the numbers are still higher than those of group A. 28 days after birth the differences in the amount of apoptosis cells were not significant between the three groups (P>0.05).[Conclusion]It is feasible to use tardive uterine-incision delivery method to build PVL animal model. The acupuncture treatment can promote brain development and myelination of immature rats with hypoxic-ischemic brain damage.
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