Effects of electro-acupuncture combined with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on protein kinase A-cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein signal transduction system after focal cerebral ischemia in adult rats

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of electro-acupuncture (EA) combined with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on protein kinase A-cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding protein (PKA-CREB) signal transduction system after focal cerebral ischemia in adult rats and to explore the mechanism of EA combined with rTMS in treating ischemic brain injury.Methods The animal model of transient focal ischemia was made by artificial middle cerebral artery occlusion. Seventy-five Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group, EA group, rTMS group and EA+rTMS group. The expressions of PKA and pCREB in hippocampus were detected and the neurologic impairment rating was observed at the 7th, 14th and 28th days, respectively, after infarction.Results The average gray densities of PKA and pCREB expressions in hippocampus after focal cerebral ischemia in model group were higher at the 7th d, lower at the 28th d than that in normal group (P＜0.05);higher in EA group, rTMS group, EA+rTMS group than that in model group at all time points (P＜0.05), higher in EA+rTMS group than that in EA group and rTMS group at 7th and 14th d(P＜0.05), and there was no difference between EA group and rTMS group(P＞0.05).The improvement of neural motor function was obvious in EA group, rTMS group and EA+rTMS group compared with model group (P＜0.01), especially in EA+rTMS group.Conclusions EA combined with rTMS can promote the functional recovery after cerebral ischemia,enhance the expression of PKA-CREB signal transduction system in hippocampus after focal cerebral ischemia, which might be one of the important mechanisms of EA combined with rTMS in treating ischemia brain injury. Key words: Cerebral ischemia; Electro-acupuncture; Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; Protein kinase A-cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element binding system