Acupuncture Leong, ^{Neiguan On ApoE - / - Mouse TC, IL-17 Affects The Liver And Oxidative Stress}

Objective:To observe the effects of needling ST40and PC6on IL-17and lipid peroxidation of ApoE-/-mice with high fat diet induced NAFLD. To provide some basic evidences that the oxidative stress in hepatic tissue and inflammatory damage cause by lipid metabolism disorders could be restricted through acupuncture.Methods:Forty male ApoE-/-mice,16weeks of age, were randomly and equally divided into Needling-acupoint Group, Simvastatin Intragastric Administration Group, Needling Non-acupoint Group and Model Group. Each was fed with high fat diet for8weeks, and then researchers tested the total cholesterol (TC), the content of IL-17in serum, HE and Oil-Red-O staining, MDA content and SOD activity of hepatic tissue, as well as quantitative analysis of Immunohistochemical determination of IL-17expression in hepatic tissue by Integrated Optical Density (IOD).Results:Compared with Model Group, body weight, Liver Body Ratio(LBR), TC and IL-17content of ApoE-/-mice in Needling-acupoint Group all decreased (P<0.05, P<0.01, P<0.05, P<0.01). The body weight of the mice in Simvastatin Intragastric Administration Group decreased (P<0.05); serum IL-17decreased obviously (P<0.01); TC also decreased but not obviously (P>0.05); LBR slightly raised (P>0.05). The body weight and LBR in Needling Non-acupoint Group increased slightly while TC and serum IL-17decreased but not significantly (P>0.05).The index of lipid metabolism showed that compare with Model group, the MDA content in hepatic tissue in Needling-acupoint Group obviously increased (P<0.05), slightly increased in Simvastatin Intragastric Administration Group, and lightly decreased Needling Non-acupoint Group. To compare with Model group, the activity of SOD in hepatic tissue in Needling-acupoint Group lowered obviously (P<0.05), the change in Simvastatin Intragastric Administration Group and Needling Non-acupoint Group are not obvious.The results of immunohistochemistry showed that compared with Model Group, the expressions of IL-17in liver tissue were significantly decreased (P<0.01) in the other three groups, and the difference among the three is not significant (P>0.05).Conclusion:Acupuncture was able to lower the expression of IL-17level both in serum and liver tissue in ApoE-/-mice with NAFL cause by lipid metabolism disorders, which is helpful to reduce the inflammation and decrease lipid content in liver, hopefully to defer the progress from fatty liver to cirrhosis. However, acupuncture’s ability to retard lipid peroxidation in ApoE-/-mice is not obvious.