Neurol Res. 2001 Jan; 23(1): 47-50.

Influence of acupuncture upon expressing levels of basic fibroblast growth factor in rat brain following focal cerebral ischemia--evaluated by time-resolved fluorescence immunoassay.

Ou YW, Han L, Da CD, Huang YL, Cheng JS.

National Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, Institute of Acupuncture Research, Shanghai Medical University, Shanghai 200032 P.R. China.

We investigate the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) during ischemia-reperfusion with or without electroacupuncture (EA) treatment, and observe the effect of EA on ischemic cerebral injury. In the present study, a sensitive sandwich time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TR-FIA) method was developed to quantitatively analyze the levels of bFGF in rat brain. The results indicated that the obvious cerebral infarction and swelling were observed after ischemia-reperfusion, and the opening amount of cerebral blood micrangium was increased. In the meantime, the expression of bFGF was also improved in striatum and frontoparietal cortex. EA alleviated the ischemic injuries induced by MCAO and markedly upregulated the opening amount of the micrangium. Owing to application of EA, the expression of bFGF was notably enhanced in striatum and cortex. The results give us some hints for the neuroprotective mechanism of EA, that is, EA may partially exert protective effects on neurons through regulating the blood dynamics and the endogenous expression of bFGF.