Effect of Electroacupuncture on Expression of Caspase-9, Cytochrome C and Apoptotic Protease Activating Fac-tor 1 in Spinal Tissue in Rats with Neurogenic Bladder after Complete Spinal Cord Injury
XU Ming
ZHANG Hong
LIU Ji-sheng
YIN Xiu-ting
ZHANG Jian
HUANG Gui-lan
AI Kun
Abstract：Objective To observe the effect of electroacupuncture on Caspase-9, cytochrome C (Cyt-C) and apoptotic protease activat-ing factor 1 (Apaf-1) protein in rats with neurogenic bladder after complete spinal cord injury. Methods A total of 60 female Sprague-Daw-ley rats were involved, in which 36 rats were randomly selected to establish the neurogenic bladder model with T10 spinal cord transected. 24 successful models selected were randomly divided into model group (n=12) and electroacupuncture group (n=12). The other 24 rats were al-so randomly divided into sham group (n=12) and blank group (n=12). The electroacupuncture group was electroacupunctured on Ciliao (BL32), Zhongji (RN3), Sanyinjiao (SP6) and Dazhui (GV14) for seven days. All of them were assessed with urodynamic test, TUNEL method was used to determine the apoptosis rate of the spinal cord, and Western blotting was used to detect the expression of Caspase-9, Cyt-C and Apaf-1 protein. Results Compared with the blank group and the sham group, the maximum bladder capacity and compliance de-creased (P<0.01), the urinary bladder pressure and leakage point pressure increased (P<0.05);the apoptosis rate of the spinal cord increased (P<0.001);the expression of Caspase-9, Cyt-C and Apaf-1 protein increased (P<0.05) in the model group and the electroacupuncture group. Compared with the model group, the maximum bladder capacity and compliance increased (P<0.01), the urinary bladder pressure and leak-age point pressure decreased (P<0.05); the apoptosis rate of the spinal cord decreased (P<0.05); the expression of Caspase-9, Cyt-C and Apaf-1 protein decreased (P<0.05) in the electroacupuncture group. Conclusion Electroacupuncture on Ciliao, Zhongji, Sanyinjiao and Da-zhui could improve the bladder function after spinal cord injury in rats. The mechanisms may be related with the down-regulation of Cas-pase-9, Cyt-C and Apaf-1 protein to reduce apoptosis.
Keywords：spinal cord injuryneurogenic bladderelectroacupunctureCaspase-9cytochrome Capoptotic protease activating factor
1apoptosisrats
Publication Date：2017-01-01
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 628-633 )