[Morphological study on acupuncture in interfering experimental cerebral infarction in rats. II. Change of ischemic...

Occluding unilateral middle cerebral artery (MCAO) of rat, the ischemic volume within cerebrum shown by nitroblue tetrazolium (N-BT) histochemistry method and effect of acupuncture were observed dynamically. 18 hs after MCAO, the ischemic area began to extend from cerebral cortex into subcortical area. 36 hs after MCAO, there was a large ischemic area in cortical and subcortical area, whose volume occupied 20.7 percent of the whole. Whereas the ischemic area in the cortex disappeared in the acupuncture group, the ischemic volume reduced to 6.3 percent of the whole. The experiment pointed out that the acupuncture is an effective therapeutic procedure for cerebral infarction.