Abstract
Objective: Investigating the effects of electro-acupuncture (EA) treatment on mice with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), using Morris water maze (MWM) for spatial learning and memory behavior tests combined with micro-positron emission tomography (micro-PET) imaging for glucose metabolism in hippocampus.Methods: Thirty seven-month-old APP/PS1 mice were randomly divided into AD Model group (AD group), medicine group (M group) and EA group, C57BL/6 mice were used for Normal control group (N group), n = 10 in each group. Mice in M group received donepezil intervention by gavage with dose at 0.92 mg/kg. EA was applied at Baihui (GV20) and Yintang (GV29) acupoints for 20 min then pricked at Shuigou (GV26) acupoint, while mice in N, M and AD groups were received restriction for 20 min, with all treatment administrated once a day for 15 consecutive days. After the treatment, MWM was performed to observe behavioral changes in mice, then hippocampus glucose metabolism level was tested by micro-PET imaging.Results: Compared with that of AD group, the escape latency of M and EA groups declined significantly (P < 0.01), while the proportion of the platform quadrant swimming distance in total swimming distance showed an obvious increase (P < 0.01), and EA group occupied a higher percentage than that in M group. The micro-PET imaging showed that mice in AD group performed a lower glucose metabolic rate in hippocampus compared with N group (P < 0.01). Both M and EA groups presented a significant higher injected dose compared with AD group (P < 0.01), and the uptake rate of EA group was higher than M group.Conclusion: Both donepezil and EA have therapeutic effects on AD mice. To a certain extent, EA shows a better efficacy in treatment of AD by improving the spatial learning and memory ability, while also enhancing glucose metabolism in hippocampus.
Highlights
MATERIALS AND METHODSAlzheimer’s disease (AD), called senile dementia, is a common central nervous system (CNS) degenerative disease, which is characterized by progressive memory impairments, aphasia, agnosia, executive dysfunction, accompanied with varying degrees of personality and behavior changes
Acupoints location in mouse were well-correspond to the anatomical site of human acupoints, GV20 is at the midpoint between the auricular apices, GV29 is located midway between the medial ends of the two eyebrows, while GV26 is located below the mouse nasal septum, at the junction of the lower two thirds and upper one third of the cleft lip midline (Figure 1)
We found that the ratio of AD group was significantly lower than those in Normal control group (N group) (P < 0.01); both M and EA group showed a significant higher ratio than AD group (P < 0.01); and EA group occupied a higher percentage compared with the medicine group (M group) (Table 3; Figure 3)
Summary
MATERIALS AND METHODSAlzheimer’s disease (AD), called senile dementia, is a common central nervous system (CNS) degenerative disease, which is characterized by progressive memory impairments, aphasia, agnosia, executive dysfunction, accompanied with varying degrees of personality and behavior changes. The prevention and treatment of AD has become an urgent issue that needs earnest study and solution. Electro-acupuncture (EA), combining traditional acupuncture with modern electrotherapy, is a promising therapy that has been widely used in clinical practice, especially exerting beneficial effects in CNS diseases such as depression, spinal cord injury (SCI), stroke and AD (Guo et al, 2014; Mo et al, 2014; Deng et al, 2016; Lai et al, 2016). The mechanism of AD mainly lies in two aspects of deficiency in origin and enrichment in symptom in accordance with the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory. Clinical and experimental studies have shown that acupuncture at GV possessed therapeutic effects in AD treatment (Yang et al, 2013; Jiang et al, 2015; Wang et al, 2015)
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