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Monitoring Acupuncture Effects on Human Brain by fMRI
Published on: April 8, 2010
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Comprehensive Transcriptomic Analysis of Brain Tissues From the Infarcted Area of MCAO Rats Revealed That Acupuncture
Yanlin Liu1, Yuting Jin2, Yuxin Liu2
1Acupuncture and Moxibustion Department, Jiaxing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated With Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiaxing, China.
Brain and Behavior
|August 22, 2025
Summary
Acupuncture treatment reduced brain injury in rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). It modulated complement system genes, offering potential for post-stroke neuroinflammation therapy.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Immunology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Stroke, particularly ischemic stroke caused by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), leads to significant brain injury and neuroinflammation.
- The complement system, a crucial part of innate immunity, plays a complex role in post-stroke inflammation and secondary brain damage.
- Acupuncture has shown therapeutic potential in various neurological conditions, but its precise molecular mechanisms in stroke recovery remain incompletely understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of acupuncture on brain injury in a rat model of MCAO.
- To elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying acupuncture's therapeutic effects, focusing on transcriptomic and protein-level changes within the complement system.
- To identify key genes and pathways modulated by acupuncture in the context of ischemic stroke.
Main Methods:
- Establishment of a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rat model followed by acupuncture treatment.
- Analysis of brain tissue from the infarct area using RNA sequencing, Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analyses.
- Validation of key complement-related genes using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blot.
Main Results:
- Identification of 1792 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between MCAO and acupuncture groups, with 254 identified as hub genes related to therapeutic effects.
- Significant downregulation of seven complement-related genes (C1QA, C1QB, C1QC, C2, C6, C7, and TREM2) by acupuncture treatment.
- Functional enrichment analysis indicated that these downregulated genes are involved in inflammatory response, coagulation cascades, blood-brain barrier regulation, and neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation.
Conclusions:
- Acupuncture alleviates stroke-induced brain injury by modulating key components of the complement system and associated inflammatory pathways.
- The study provides mechanistic insights into acupuncture's role in mitigating post-stroke neuroinflammation.
- Findings support the potential of acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy for managing neuroinflammation after stroke.
