Experimental Research on Protection of Replenishing Kidney Essence with Electroacupuncture (EA) on Brain in Perimenopausal Rats

OBJECTIVE To observe effects of replenishing kidney essence with electroacupuncture and estrogen replacement on vivo SOD， MDA and caspase-3 in ovariectomized rats after cerebral ischemia and contrast the cerebral protection in ovariectomized rats with the two pretreatment methods.METHODS 60 female SD rats were randomly divided into four groups， namely， sham group， castration alone group， and estrogen pretreatment group and EA pretreatment group. Three groups except sham group all underwent bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) to establish perimenopausal rat models. EA pretreatment rats were punctured in CV4 and bilateral SP6 points with replenishing kidney essence while estrogen pretreatment group was intramuscularly injected with estrogen estradiol benzoate (0.15 mg/kg). All four groups were given the same bundle processing with the same time as EA pretreatment group. After 24 hours treatment， they were operated with cerebral ischemic to make middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) models and reperfused 2 hours later. In 24 h， the rats were killed and blood and brain tissue were removed for NSS score and calculating the infarct volume and E₂， SOD， MDA and caspase-3 content within specimens.RESULTS SOD in blood and brain tissue in EA pretreatment was significantly higher than that in estrogen pretreatment group (P<0.05)， MDA level was significantly lower than the latter group (P<0.05)， caspase-3 levels between the two groups without significant difference (P>0.05).CONCLUSION Replenishing kidney essence method with EA can protect the brain of perimenopausal rats and electrical stimulation makes a more markedly effect.