Moxibustion at CV 8 alleviates the myocardial inflammatory response in rats with long-term exercise-induced fatigue through inhibition of the p38 MAPK/NF-κβ signaling pathway

Abstract

Pathological cardiac remodeling is an important cause of sudden cardiac death and other cardiovascular diseases in athletes. Unfortunately, people involved in long-term intense endurance exercise (especially professional athletes) do not fully understand the cause and health risks of pathological cardiac remodeling, resulting in pathological cardiac remodeling developing into irreversible damage, which seriously affects sports careers and the postretirement life of athletes. Studies have shown that myocardial inflammation caused by long-term and repeated high-intensity exercise is a prerequisite for inducing pathological remodeling and that effective inhibition of inflammation can block or reverse the pathological process of pathological remodeling. This preliminary study showed that moxibustion at CV 8 inhibited the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases/nuclear factor-κβ (p38 MAPK/NF-κβ) signaling pathway in myocardium, reduced the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor(TNF-α), significantly improved myocardial morphology and function in rats under going long-term and repeated high-intensity exercise, and effectively prevented pathological cardiac remodeling. Moxibustion at CV 8 provides a new physical therapy and experimental basis for the treatment of pathological cardiac remodeling in clinical practice.