Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 7, 2015; 21(5): 1468-1478
Published online Feb 7, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i5.1468
Electroacupuncture activates enteric glial cells and protects the gut barrier in hemorrhaged rats
Sen Hu, Zeng-Kai Zhao, Rui Liu, Hai-Bin Wang, Chun-Yu Gu, Hong-Min Luo, Huan Wang, Ming-Hua Du, Yi Lv, Xian Shi
Sen Hu, Zeng-Kai Zhao, Hong-Min Luo, Huan Wang, Ming-Hua Du, Yi Lv, Laboratory for Shock and Multiple Organ Dysfunction, Burns Institute, First Hospital Affiliated to the PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100048, China
Zeng-Kai Zhao, Hong-Min Luo, Huan Wang, Ming-Hua Du, Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100853, China
Rui Liu, Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, The Fifth Hospital Of Harbin, Harbin 150040, Heilongjiang Province, China
Hai-Bin Wang, Chun-Yu Gu, Department of Clinical Laboratory, the First Hospital Affiliated to the People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing 100048, China
Xian Shi, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
Author contributions: Hu S and Zhao ZK contributed equally to this study; Hu S, Zhao ZK and Shi X designed the research; Zhao ZK, Liu R, Wang HB, Gu CY, Luo HM, Wang H, Du MH and Lv Y performed the research; Hu S, Zhao ZK and Luo HM analyzed the data; Hu S, Zhao ZK, Du MH and Shi X prepared and revised manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Grants from The Special Foundation of the 11th Five-Year Plan for Military Medical Project, No. 06Z055.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Xian Shi, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Chinese PLA General Hospital, No. 28 Fuxing Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100853, China. bs0425@163.com
Telephone: +86-10-66867397 Fax: +86-10-68989139
Received: June 5, 2014
Peer-review started: June 6, 2014
First decision: July 9, 2014
Revised: July 31, 2014
Accepted: September 19, 2014
Article in press: September 19, 2014
Published online: February 7, 2015
Abstract

AIM: To investigate whether electroacupuncture ST36 activates enteric glial cells, and alleviates gut inflammation and barrier dysfunction following hemorrhagic shock.

METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to approximately 45% total blood loss and randomly divided into seven groups: (1) sham: cannulation, but no hemorrhage; (2) subjected to hemorrhagic shock (HS); (3) electroacupuncture (EA) ST36 after hemorrhage; (4) vagotomy (VGX)/EA: VGX before hemorrhage, then EA ST36; (5) VGX: VGX before hemorrhage; (6) α-bungarotoxin (BGT)/EA: intraperitoneal injection of α-BGT before hemorrhage, then EA ST36; and (7) α-BGT group: α-BGT injection before hemorrhage. Morphological changes in enteric glial cells (EGCs) were observed by immunofluorescence, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP; a protein marker of enteric glial activation) was evaluated using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis. Intestinal cytokine levels, gut permeability to 4-kDa fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-dextran, and the expression and distribution of tight junction protein zona occludens (ZO)-1 were also determined.

RESULTS: EGCs were distorted following hemorrhage and showed morphological abnormalities. EA ST36 attenuated the morphological changes in EGCs at 6 h, as compared with the VGX, α-BGT and HS groups. EA ST36 increased GFAP expression to a greater degree than in the other groups. EA ST36 decreased intestinal permeability to FITC-dextran (760.5 ± 96.43 ng/mL vs 2466.7 ± 131.60 ng/mL, P < 0.05) and preserved ZO-1 protein expression and localization at 6 h after hemorrhage compared with the HS group. However, abdominal VGX and α-BGT treatment weakened or eliminated the effects of EA ST36. EA ST36 reduced tumor necrosis factor-α levels in intestinal homogenates after blood loss, while vagotomy or intraperitoneal injection of α-BGT before EA ST36 abolished its anti-inflammatory effects.

CONCLUSION: EA ST36 attenuates hemorrhage-induced intestinal inflammatory insult, and protects the intestinal barrier integrity, partly via activation of EGCs.

Keywords: Hemorrhagic shock, Electroacupuncture, ST36, Cytokines, Intestinal barrier, Enteric glial cells

Core tip: The most important findings from this study were that enteric glial cells (EGCs) were distorted following hemorrhage and showed morphological abnormalities. Electroacupuncture (EA) ST36 attenuated the morphological changes in EGCs and intestinal inflammation, and decreased intestinal permeability, which is considered to be the possible mechanism of EA’s regulation of the intestinal barrier function after hemorrhage shock.