Abstract
Electroacupuncture Improves Neurogenic Bladder Dysfunctions in Spinal Cord Injury Rat Model by Regulating BDNF-TrkB and MAPK Signaling Pathways
Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, The Sixth Medical Center of People’s Liberation Army General Hospital and Medical School, Beijing 100037, 1The First Medical Center of Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital and Medical School, Beijing 100853, 2Department of Cadre Diagnosis and Treatment, The Eighth Medical Center of People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing 100091, 3The First Medical Center of Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital and Medical School, Beijing 100853, China
Correspondence Address:
Ling Guan, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, The Sixth Medical Center of People’s Liberation Army General Hospital and Medical School, Beijing 100037, China, E-mail: guanling301@sina.com
To explore protective effects and possible electroacupuncture mechanisms on neurogenic bladder dysfunctions in a spinal cord injury rat model. Forty-eight spinal cord injury model rats were prepared using modified Allen's method and then randomly assigned to the sham operation group, model group and treatment group, and the healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were used as controls. After 7 d of electroacupuncture intervention, the minimum contraction tension and contraction frequency of isolated detrusor strips in each group were measured. At the end of the experiment, rat bladders were taken for histopathological analysis and detection of protein and messenger ribonucleic acid levels of proinflammatory factors. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting methods were also applied to measure the levels of messenger ribonucleic acid and protein associated with brain-derived neurotrophic factor-tyrosine kinase B and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways, respectively. Treatment of electroacupuncture could significantly improve Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan limb motor function score in spinal cord injury model rats. Reverse transcription-qualitative polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay results showed that electroacupuncture treatment exhibited a statistical decrease in the expression of proinflammatory factors in the bladder tissues of spinal cord injury model rats relative to the spinal cord injury control group. In addition, the Western blotting results showed that electroacupuncture treatment significantly up-regulated the brain-derived neurotrophic factor/tyrosine kinase B pathway and significantly inhibited the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase inflammation-related signaling pathways relative to the model control group. Electroacupuncture can ameliorate neurogenic bladder dysfunctions in the spinal cord injury rat model by regulating brain-derived neurotrophic factor-tyrosine kinase B and mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways.
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