%0 Journal Article
%T Acupuncture at PC6 prevents cardiac hypertrophy in isoproterenol
%A Fubiao Yang
%A Miao Zhang
%A Pengyu Zhu
%A Qigen Du
%A Ying Guo
%A Yunlong Hou
%J Acupuncture in Medicine
%@ 1759-9873
%D 2019
%R 10.1136/acupmed-2017-011418
%X To investigate the effect of acupuncture at PC6 on cardiac hypertrophy in isoproterenol (ISO)-treated mice. 48 male C57BL/6 mice underwent subcutaneous injection of ISO for 14 days and were randomly divided into four groups (n=12£¿each) that remained untreated (ISO group), received verum manual acupuncture (MA) treatment at PC6 (ISO+MA(PC6) group), sham MA at location on the tail not corresponding to any traditional acupuncture point (ISO+MA(tail) group), or propranolol (ISO+PR group). An additional 12 mice were given an injection of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and formed a healthy control (Normal) group. After performing echocardiography and measuring the ratio of heart weight (HW)/tibia length (TL) at 14 days, all mice were euthanased. Morphological examination was performed following haematoxylin and eosin and Masson¡¯s staining of heart tissues. Ultrastructural changes were observed by electron microscopy. Cardiac protein expression of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and tumour necrosis factor ¦Á (TNF¦Á) were measured by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining and Western blotting. Compared with the untreated model group, acupuncture at PC6 lowered the heart rate, reduced the ratio of HW/TL, improved the left ventricular (LV) anterior wall thickness (LVAWd), LV end-diastolic anterior wall thickness (LVAWs), LV end-systolic posterior wall thickness (LVPWd), LV end-diastolic posterior wall thickness (LVPWs), and fractional shortening (FS) as observed by echocardiography (ISO+MA(PC6) vs. ISO groups: P<0.05). Moreover, evidence from morphological studies demonstrated that acupuncture at PC6 inhibited myocardial hypertrophy and collagen deposition, and normalised the ultrastructural changes. In addition, ANP and TNF¦Á expression were attenuated in the verum acupuncture group compared with the untreated model group (ISO+MA(PC6) vs. ISO groups: P<0.05). The results demonstrated that acupuncture at PC6 attenuates sympathetic overactivity. Additionally, it may improve cardiac performance by reversing adverse cardiac remodelling. Acupuncture has potential as a treatment for sympathetic hypertension
%K acupuncture
%K cardiac remodelling
%K cardiac hypertrophy
%K isoproterenol
%K atrial natriuretic peptide
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1136/acupmed-2017-011418