Electroacupuncture could regulate the NF-κB signaling pathway to ameliorate the inflammatory injury in focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion model Rats

Abstract

The activated nuclear factor-KappaB signaling pathway plays a critical role in inducing inflammatory injury. It has been reported that electroacupuncture could be an effective anti-inflammatory treatment. We aimed to explore the complex mechanism by which EA inhibits the activation of the NF-B signal pathway and ameliorate inflammatory injury in the short term; the effects of NEMO Binding Domain peptide for this purpose were compared. Focal cerebral I/R was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion for 2 hrs. Total 380 male Sprague-Dawley rats are in the study. The neurobehavioral scores, infarction volumes, and the levels of IL-1β and IL-13 were detected. NF-B p65, IBα, IKKα, and IKKβ were analyzed and the ability of NF-B binding DNA was investigated. The EA treatment and the NBD peptide treatment both reduced infarct size, improved neurological scores, and regulated the levels of IL-1β and IL-13. The treatment reduced the expression of IKKα and IKKβ and altered the expression of NF-B p65 and IBα in the cytoplasm and nucleus; the activity of NF-B was effectively reduced. We conclude that EA treatment might interfere with the process of NF-B nuclear translocation. And it also could suppress the activity of NF-B signaling pathway to ameliorate the inflammatory injury after focal cerebral ischemia/ reperfusion. © 2013 Wen-yi Qin et al.