Effects of Electroacupuncture Combined with Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on the Expression of Nestin in Neural Stem Cell after Focal Cerebral Ischemia in Adult Rats*

Objective: To investigate the influence of electroacupuncture (EA) combined with repetitive transeranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS) on the temporal profile of nestin expression after induction of focal cerebral isehemia in adult rats and to explore the mechanism of EA combined with rTMS in treating ischemic brain injury. Method: The model of transient focal ischemia was produced by occlusion of middle cerebral artery. Seventy-five Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal group, model group, EA group, rTMS group and EA +rTMS group. The neurologic impairment rating and ability of learning and memory were observed at the 7th、14th and 28th d after infarction respectively. Meanwhile, Western blotting was used to observe the number of nestin expression positive cells. Result: Nestin-positive cells were found in cortex, subgranular zone (SGZ), subventricular zone (SVZ) of the ipsilateral side at different time points after cerebral isehemia. The number of nestin-positive cells peaked at the 7th d, began to decrease at the 14th d and was significantly higher in EA+rTMS group than that in model group (P<0.05), then almost reached normal at the 28th d. The improvement of neural motor function deficits as well as the indexes of learning and memory were more obvious in EA+rTMS group compared with model group (P<0.01, P<0.05). These effects were most obvious in EA+rTMS group compared with the EA and rTMS group (P<0.05). Conclusion: EA and rTMS possess the potency of building up and can increase the number of nestin-positive cells in some brain regions after focal cerebral ischemia, which might be one of the important mechanisms of EA combined with rTMS in treating ischemia brain injury.