Effect of electro-acupuncture on the morphology and LRP1 protein expression in the model mice with Alzheimer disease

HongXin Fei, Lihui Sun, Jie Li

Abstract

To observe the influence of electro-acupuncture on the hippocampus morphology and LRP1 protein expression the mice with Alzheimer Disease (AD). Duplicate the AD model mice, SD mice in number 28 were randomly divided into four groups which are control group, model group, treatment group (piracetam 0.62 g•kg-1) and electro-acupuncture group (bilat-eralm Shenshu, Neiguan and Dazhui), 7 mice in each group. The therapy was one time each and it last 28 days. Optical microscopy and electron microscopy were used to observe the morphology, determine the viscera index of the brain and spleen of the mice; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine the Aβ and APP protein levels in the hippocampus; and immunohistochemical technology was used to observe the expression level of the LRP1 protein to determine the effect of electro-acupuncture on the LRP1 signal transduction pathway. Compared with the control group, in the model group mice show the following characteristics: the hippocampus structure was abnormal, the layers of pyramidal cell were reduced, the pyramidal cell were disordered and sparse accompanied with glial cells hyperplasia; the ultra microstructure showed that morphology of the hippocampal neuron was irregular, disordered, nuclear membrane unclear, and mitochondrial swelling, and viscera index of the brain and spleen reduced significantly (P＜0.05); the level of Aβ and APP proteins increased significantly (P＜0.05); and the level of LRP1 protein decreased significantly revealed by immunohistochemical detection (P＜ 0.05). Compared with the model group, hippocampus structure of the electro-acupuncture group all showed to be restored in different degrees and HE staining showed the neuron arrangement is neat, the structure is compacted; the ultra microstructure showed that morphology of the hippocampal neuron was basically normal, nuclear membrane and mitochondrial are also clearly can be seen, and viscera index of the brain and spleen increased significantly (P＜0.05); the level of Aβ and APP proteins decreased significantly (P＜0.05); and the level of LRP1 protein increased significantly revealed by immunohistochemical detection (P＜0.05). Electro-acupuncture can improve the structure of hippocampal neuron, increase the viscera index of the brain and spleen, decrease the expression levels of Aβ、APP proteins, and this processed were realized by up-regulating the expression level of LRP1 protein.