Electroacupuncture pretreatment induces the tolerance against focal cerebral ischemia through activation of Notch pathway
赵昱1
第四军医大学西京医院麻醉科
Abstract
Background and Purpose—Cerebral ischemia can activate Notch signaling, while it is still controversial whether the activated Notch signaling is benefit to ischemic cerebral tissue. Electroacupancture(EA) pretreatment can induce the tolerance against focal cerebral ischemia, however, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully investigated. In this study, we tested whether the tolerance against focal cerebral ischemia induced by EA pretreatmentis mediated by Notch signaling activation.
Methods—NICD and Hes1 were measured in adult rat striatum subjected to middle cerebral artery occlusion that were untreated or treated with EA pretreatment. To investigate whether inhibition of Notch signaling activation could abolish the neuroprotective effect of EA pretreatment, intraventricular injections with the γ-secretase inhibitor were used. Double immunohistochemical staining, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blotting were performed.
Results—Before ischemia, EA pretreatment significantly increased Notch1、Notch4 and Jag1 gene expression in the striatum. After ischemia and reperfusion, EA pretreatment significantly increased NICD and Hes1 levels in ischemic striatum. Activation of Notch signaling in EA group reached a maximum level earlier than that in control group. Intraventricular injection with the γ-secretase inhibitor(MW167) could attenuate the neuroprotective effect of EA pretreatment.
Conclusions—Electroacupuncture pretreatment induces the tolerance against focal cerebral ischemia through activation of Notch pathway.
