Electroacupuncture Alleviates Hip Fracture-Induced Acute Lung Injury in Elderly Mice

The elderly are prone to lung injury after hip fracture (HF), which is one of the major causes of death following HFs. Electroacupuncture (EA) has been reported to alleviate lung injury. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of EA on HF-induced acute lung injury and explore the underlying mechanisms.

Mice were randomly divided into four groups: control, model, sham EA + HF, and EA + HF groups. An acute lung injury mouse model induced by unilateral closed HF was prepared by free drop of 500 g weights from a height of 15 cm along the axis to assess the effectiveness of EA pretreatment.

EA pretreatment significantly attenuated the histopathologic lung injury score, the wet to dry weight ratio, and the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid protein concentration induced by HF in elderly mice. EA also inhibited the expression of toll-like receptor four and nuclear factor-κB proteins, as well as the contents of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, and IL-6 in lung tissue. However, there was no significant difference in the above indexes between the sham EA + HF group and the model group.

EA can alleviate hip fracture-induced acute lung injury in elderly mice, and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of the toll-like receptor four and nuclear factor-κB signaling pathway.