Effect of electroacupuncture on urodynamics, PACAP-38 and PAC1R of spinal cord in rats with neurogenic bladder✰

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect and mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) in the intervention of neurogenic bladder (NB) caused by suprasacral spinal cord injury (SCI). MethodsThe total 60 female Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into blank group, sham operation group by adopting random number table method, with 12 rats in each group. The remaining rats were made into models through operation, and 24 successful model rats were randomly divided into model group and EA group, with 12 rats in each group. Since the 19th day after modeling, EA was conducted at “Cìliáo” (次髎BL 32), “Zhōngjí” (中极CV 3), “Sānyīnjiāo” (三阴交SP 6) and “Dàzhuī” (大椎GV 14) in EA group, remaining the needle for 20 min every time. The intervention was performed for once a day, and 7 consecutive days were needed. The rest of the three groups were only tied up for the same time. Urodynamics test was conducted after the intervention. The contents of PACAP-38 and PAC1R of the spinal cord of the injury site were detected by Western blot. ResultsCompared with the blank group, there were no significant differences in the bladder capacity, leak point pressure, bladder compliance and PACAP-38 and PAC1R contents in spinal cord in sham operation group; compared with the sham operation group, the maximum bladder capacity and the bladder compliance in the model group were lower (both P<0.05), the leak point pressure was higher (P<0.05), the contents of PACAP-38 and PAC1R were lower (both P<0.05); compared with the model group, the maximum bladder capacity and the bladder compliance in the EA group were higher (both P<0.05), the leak point pressure was lower (P<0.05), the contents of PACAP-38 and PAC1R were higher (both P<0.05). ConclusionEA at BL 32, CV 3, SP 6 and GV 14 can improve the bladder function of NB rats of suprasacral SCI, and its mechanism may be related to the increase expression of PACAP-38 and PAC1R protein in the injured spinal cord tissue.