Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine ›› 2024, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (4): 734-744.DOI: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.20240610.004

• Original articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Electroacupuncture ameliorates blood-brain barrier disruption after ischemic stroke through histone acetylation regulation at the matrix metalloproteinase 9 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 genes

CHEN Yonglin, OUYANG Ling, MENG Lingling, WU Bufan, PENG Rou, LIU Sitong, HOU Dan, WANG Yaling, JING Xinyue, LU Shengfeng(), FU Shuping()   

  1. Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China
  • Received:2023-02-22 Accepted:2023-07-20 Online:2024-08-15 Published:2024-06-10
  • Contact: Prof. FU Shuping, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023, China. shupingfu@njucm.edu.cn; Prof. LU Shengfeng, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, 210023, China. lushengfeng@njucm.edu.cn Telephone: +86-18761894980
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China: the Role of Intestinal Flora-Treg/γδT Cell-IL-17 Signaling in the Neuroprotective Effect of Electroacupuncture on Ischemic Brain Injury(81774403);Natural Science Foundation of the Jiangsu Province of China: Study on the Mechanism of Acupuncture Anti-stroke Immune Inflammatory Response Based on Intestinal Treg/γδT Cell-IL-17 Signaling Pathway(BK20171492);Postgraduate Scientific Research Innovation Practice Project of the Jiangsu Province of China: a Study based on the Butyric Acid-HDAC-Foxp3 Pathway to Explore the Regulatory Effect of Acupuncture on Intestinal Treg in Rats with Stroke(KYCX21_1715);a Study on the Anti-brain Injury of Electroacupuncture Based on Intestinal Microbiota-Treg/γδT Cell-IL-17 Pathway(KYCX21_1716);Key University Science Research Project of Jiangsu Province: the Role of Preactivation of the Treg Immune Response in the Mechanism of Anti-stroke Neuroinflammatory Response in Acupuncture Pretreatment(22KJA360003)

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To explore whether the regulation of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9)/ tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs) gene expression through histone acetylation is a possible mechanism by which electroacupuncture (EA) protects blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity in a middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) rat model.

METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups: the sham group, the MCAO group, the MCAO + EA (MEA) group, and the MCAO + EA + HAT inhibitor (HATi) group. The MCAO model was generated by blocking the middle cerebral artery. EA was applied to Baihui (GV20). Samples were collected 1 or 3 d after reperfusion. Neurological function scores and Evans blue extravasation were employed to evaluate the poststroke injury. The effect of EA on MMP-9/TIMPs gene expression was assessed by real-time fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP).

RESULTS: Our results showed that EA treatment prominently improved neurological function and ameliorated BBB disruption. The RT-qPCR assay showed that EA reduced the expression of MMP-9 and promoted TIMP-2 mRNA expression, but HATi reversed these effects of EA. In addition, ChIP results revealed that EA decreased the enrichment of H3K9ace/H3K27ace at MMP-9 promoters and notably stimulated the recruitment of H3K9ace/H3K27ace at TIMP-2 promoter.

CONCLUSION: EA treatment at Baihui (GV20) regulates the transcription of MMP-9 and TIMP-2 through histone acetylation modification in the acute stage of stroke, which preserves the structural integrity of the BBB in MCAO rats. These findings suggested that the histone acetylation-mediated transcriptional activity of target genes may be a crucial mechanism of EA treatment in stroke.

Key words: blood-brain barrier, matrix metalloproteinase 9, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases, electroacupuncture, histone acetylation

Cite this article

CHEN Yonglin, OUYANG Ling, MENG Lingling, WU Bufan, PENG Rou, LIU Sitong, HOU Dan, WANG Yaling, JING Xinyue, LU Shengfeng, FU Shuping. Electroacupuncture ameliorates blood-brain barrier disruption after ischemic stroke through histone acetylation regulation at the matrix metalloproteinase 9 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2 genes[J]. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2024, 44(4): 734-744.