Expression of interleukin-6 mRNA in ischemic rat brain after electroacupuncture stimulation

Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a potent, pleiotropic cytokine that plays a central role in host defense and acute inflammatory responses, exhibiting pro- and anti-inflammatory activities. However, little is known about the effect of acupuncture on IL-6 in inflammatory responses caused by cerebral ischemia-reperfusion. The objective of present study was to investigate the influence of electroacupuncture (EA) on IL-6 mRNA expression in ischemic rat brain, by means of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and in situ hybridization. Data showed that EA stimulation significantly upregulated IL-6 mRNA levels in rat cortex and striatum following cerebral ischmia-reperfusion (P<0.05 vs. cerebral ischemia group, respectively), but nothing for sham-EA treatment. The result suggests that EA may partially participate in the regulation of inflammatory processes, and the mechanism of neuroprotective action of EA is implicated in modulation of IL-6 gene expression in cerebral ischemic injury.