Electroacupuncture and Brain Protection against Cerebral Ischemia : Specific Effects of Acupoints

Electroacupuncture (EA) has been shown to increase cerebral blood flow (CBF) and reduce ischemic infarction in the rat model of cerebral ischemia (middle cerebral artery occlusion, MCAO). Since multiple acupoints are recommended to treat cerebral ischemia, we performed this study to investigate if there is any variation in EA protection against cerebral ischemia with the stimulation of certain “acupoints” in rats. One hour of right MCAO with an 85% reduction of blood flow induced an extensive infarction (32.9% ± 3.8% of the brain), serious neurological deficits (scale = 6.0 ± 0.5, on a scale of 0–7), and a 17% (10 out of 60) mortality. EA, with a sparse-dense wave (5 Hz/20 Hz) at 1.0 mA for 30 minutes, at Du 20 and Du 26 greatly reduced the infarction to 4.5% ± 1.5% (P