Administration of Electroacupuncture and Da-Cheng-Qi Decoction Has a Synergetic Effect in Relieving Injury of Pancreas, Lung and Large Intestine and Inflammatory Reactions in Rats with Acute Pancreatitis

Abstract

To explore the effectiveness of electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation of Shu-and Mu-points of Lung and Large Intestine Meridians combined with administration of Da-Cheng-Qi Decoction (DCQD) in the treatment of inflammatory injury in rats with acute pancreatitis, so as to reveal their synergetic anti-inflammatory effect. Forty male SD rats were randomly divided into five groups: normal control, model, DCQD, EA, EA+DCQD, with 8 rats in each group. All the rats except those in the normal group received a retrograde biliopancreatic duct injection of sodium Taurocholate (3.0%, 0.1 mL/100 g) to induce an acute pancreatitis model. Twenty-four hours after modeling, EA (4 Hz/50 Hz) was applied to bilateral Shu-points "Feishu" (BL 13) and "Dachangshu" (BL 25), and Mu-points "Zhongfu" (LU 1) and "Tianshu" (ST 25) for 20 min, once every 7 h, 3 times in total. Rats of the DCQD and EA+DCQD groups were given intra-gastric gavage of DCQD (1 mL/100 g) 24 h after modeling, and those of the other 3 groups were given intra-gastric gavage of same dosage of normal saline. The histopathological changes of the pancreas, lung and large intestine tissues were observed after H. E. staining and scored according to Schmidt's and colleagues' methods (the severity of edema, inflammation, hemorrhage, necrosis). The concentrations of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-10 in the serum, and those of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and malonaldehyde (MDA) in the lung and large intestine tissues were detected by using double-antibody sandwich ELISA. After modeling, the histopathological scores of pancreas, lung and large intestine tissues, the concentrations of MPO and MDA in lung and large intestine, and the levels of IL-6 and IL-10 in serum were significantly increased in the model group compared with the normal control group (P<0.05). Following the treatment, the histopathological scores of pancreas, lung and large intestine tissues, the contents of MPO and MDA in the lung and large intestine, and serum IL-6 were considerably reduced in the EA, DCQD and EA+DCQD groups relevant to the model group (P<0.05), while serum IL-10 content was notably increased in the three treatment groups (P<0.05). The therapeutic effect of EA+DCQD was significantly superior to that of simple EA and simple DCQD in down-regulating the histopathological scores of lung and large intestine tissues, the contents of MPO and MDA in the lung and large intestine, and serum IL-6 level, and up-regulating serum IL-10 level (P<0.05). No significant differences were found between the EA and DCQD groups in the above-mentioned 9 indexes (P>0.05). EA and DCQD can relieve the inflammatory injury of the pancreas, lung and large intestine tissues in rats with acute pancreatitis, and EA combined with DCQD has a better synergetic effect in reducing oxidative stress level and inflammatory reaction.