Effects of electroacupuncture combined with nerve decompression/dexamethasone on facial neuropathy,and expressions of nerve growth factors and Caspase-3 in rabbits with facial nerve injury
Objective It is to observe the effects and its mechanism of electroacupuncture combined with nerve decom-pression/dexamethasone on facial neuropathy,serum levels of nerve growth factors and expression of Caspase-3 protein in nerve fiber tissue in rabbits with facial nerve injury.Methods One hundred and twenty healthy rabbits were randomly divid-ed into sham operation group,sham operation+western medicine(WM)group,sham operation+traditional Chinese medi-cine(TCM)group,sham operation+WM+TCM group,model group,model+WM group,model+TCM group,model+WM+TCM group,with 15 rabbits in each group.Facial nerve injury models were prepared in all groups except for the sham operation groups.The sham operation group and model group were not given any intervention after treatment,the sham operation+WM group and model+WM group were given dexamethasone 1 mg/kg by intramuscular injection and nerve de-compression every day,the sham operation+TCM group and model+TCM group were treated with electroacupuncture(30 minutes per time,continuously treated for 5 days and rest for 2 days as one treatment course),the sham operation+WM+TCM group and model+WM+TCM group were treated with dexamethasone by intramuscular injection,nerve decompres-sion and electroacupuncture,each group were continuously treated until the 21 th day after operation.On the 1 st,7 th,and 21 st day after surgery,the levels of NGF in peripheral blood were detected,the facial nerve lesions were observed by HE staining,and the positive expressions of Caspase-3 in facial nerve tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry.Re-sults On the 1 st,7 th,and 21 st day after surgery,the serum levels of NGF in each model group were significantly lower than those in each sham operation group(all P<0.05),the serum level of NGF in the model+WM+TCM group was sig-nificantly higher than those in the model group,model+WM group and model+TCM group(all P<0.05),the model+WM group and model+TCM group were significantly higher than the model group(both P<0.05),there was no signifi-cant difference between the model+WM group and model+TCM group(P>0.05).On the 1st day after surgery,the scores of Caspase-3 positive expression intensity in each model group were significantly higher than those in each sham oper-ation group(all P<0.05);on the 1 st,7 th,and 21 st day after surgery,the scores of Caspase-3 positive expression in-tensity in each model treatment group were respectively significantly higher than those in each sham operation treatment group(all P<0.05);on the 1 st,7 th day after surgery,the scores of Caspase-3 positive expression intensity in the model+WM+TCM group was respectively significantly lower than those in the model group and model+WM group at the same period(all P<0.05);(all P<0.05),but the difference was not significant compared with that in the model+TCM group(P>0.05);on the 21 st day after surgery,there was no significant difference in the Caspase-3 positive expression intensity a-mong each model group(all P>0.05).Conclusion Electroacupuncture combined with nerve decompression/dexametha-sone can promote the repair of facial nerve injury,and its mechanism may be related to up-regulating the serum level of NGF and down-regulating the expression of Caspase-3 protein in facial nerve.
facial nerve injuryelectroacupunctureneurodecompressionCaspase-3 protein
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