Effect of Electroacupuncture on Interleukin-6 Receptor mRNA Expression in Hippocampus of Cerebral Ischemia-reperfusion Rats

OBJECTIVE To observe the changes of IL-6 receptor in hippocampus after cerebral ischemia-reperfusion and the effect on IL-6 receptor expression by electroacupuncture treatment. METHODS Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham-operation (sham)， model and EA groups (five rats in each group). There are two observing time in each group: 6 hours and 24 hours after reperfusion. CI/R model was established by right middle cerebral artery occlusion for 2 h and reperfusion for 24 h. EA (3Hz， 1-3mA) was applied to "Baihui" (DU20)， "Dazhui" (DU14) for 30 min. the expression of interleukin-6 receptor mRNA and gp130 mRNA in hippocampus by q-PCR method was observed. RESULTS ①The expression of interleukin-6Rα mRNA decreased as time changed: At the sixth hour， the expression of interleukin-6 Rα mRNA in the model group was the least compared with the sham group and EA group. There was significantly difference (P<0.01) compared with the sham group and (P<0.05) compared with the EA group; At the twenty-forth hour， the expression of interleukin-6 Rα mRNA of every group decreased， the expression of interleukin-6 Rα mRNA in the model group was still the least compared with the sham group (P<0.01)， there was no significant difference between model group and EA group. ②The expression of gp130 mRNA increased as time changed; at the sixth hour， there was no difference in the three groups. At the twenty-forth hour， and the expression of gp130 mRNA in the sham group had no significant changes， the expression of gp130 mRNA of the model group and the EA group rose， the expression in the model group was less than that of the EA group significantly (P<0.05); while compared with the sham group， the expression of gp130 mRNA rose significantly (P<0.01) in EA group. CONCLUSION EA can up-regulate the expression of interleukin-6Ra mRNA and gp130 mRNA in rats' hippocampus of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion models. This may be one of the mechanisms of EA in protecting brain injury.