针刺抑制老年大鼠脑与垂体细胞因子基因表达

为了阐明针刺治疗老年性痴呆的可能机制，我们应用老年大鼠腹腔注射细菌脂多糖（LPS）以模拟老年性痴呆脑内的炎症状态，并使用逆转录-聚合酶链式反应（RT－PCR）技术观察针刺时大鼠脑与垂体白细胞介素-1β（IL－1β）与白细胞介素-6（IL-6）mRNA的变化。结果显示，IL－1β与IL－6mRNA在老年大鼠皮质、小脑、垂体显著高于4月龄大鼠，针刺后其表达减少，表明针刺抑制脑内的炎症反应可能为治疗老年性痴呆的机制。

Acupuncture Inhibits the Expression of Interleukin-1β and Interleukin-6 mRNA in the Aged Rat Brain and Pituitary

To elucidate the mechanisms of acupuncture treatment for Alzheimer's disease(AD), we injected the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) intraperitoneally to 21 ~ 22 month old (aged) Spraque-Dawley (SD) rats to mimic the inflammatory state in the AD brains. The RT-PCR technique was used to observe the changes of expression of interleukin IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA in rat brain and pituitary following LPS injection and acupuncture treatments. The results have shown that the expression of IL-1β and IL-6 mRNA in aged rat cortex, cerebellum and pituitary was higher when compared with 4 month old(young) rats and repeated acupuncture could attenuate the expression in aged rats. The results indicated that acupuncture inhibits the gene expression of cytokines in the aged rat brain and pituitary, it may be responsible for the acupuncture treatment of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.