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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1428907

Exploring the effects of moxibustion on cognitive function in rats with multiple cerebral infarctions from the perspective of glial vascular unit repairing

Provisionally accepted
Jingji Wang Jingji Wang 1Kunrui Du Kunrui Du 1Chang Liu Chang Liu 1Xiaoyu Chen Xiaoyu Chen 1Wenming Ban Wenming Ban 2Guoqi Zhu Guoqi Zhu 1*Jun Yang Jun Yang 3*
  • 1 Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China
  • 2 Taihe County Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Taihe, China
  • 3 First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: This study aimed to explore the effect of moxibustion at Governor Vessel (GV) acupoints, including Baihui (GV 20), Shenting (GV 24) and Dazhui (GV 14) for 14 days on glial vascular unit (GVU) in rats with multiple microinfarctions (MMI), and to explore its action mechanism.Methods: The effect and mechanism of moxibustion on vascular dementia (VD) were studied in MMI rats by means of behavioral and molecular biology experiments.Results: Rats receiving MMI showed impairment of memory function, reduction of cerebral blood flow, damage of blood-brain barrier (BBB) integrity and increased brain mass. MMI also increased neuronal degeneration in the hippocampus. Notably, levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and complement component 3 significantly increased, but those of Connexin43 (CX43) and platelet derived growth factor receptor β (PDGFRβ) significantly decreased in the hippocampus of the rats receiving MMI. Moxibustion, as well as oxiracetam (ORC) treatment improved memory function and neuronal degeneration, ameliorated BBB integrity, increased cerebral blood flow and decreased brain mass. In addition, moxibustion as well as oxiracetam (ORC) treatment reduced the decrease of CX43 protein and increased PDGFRβ protein level in the hippocampus of MMI rats. Moreover, moxibustion treatment reversed MMI-induced increase of the GFAP/CX43 ratio in vascular structural units. Importantly, after PDGFRβ inhibition, VD rats treated with moxibustion had impaired learning and memory, decreased cerebral blood flow, and BBB disruption.Conclusions: Moxibustion treatment at various GV acupoints improved cerebral blood flow and repaired BBB function in rats with MMI, likely through protecting GVU.

    Keywords: Moxibustion, Vascular dementia, Glial vascular unit, Astrocyte, Glial fibrillary acidic protein, CX43 Abbreviations: VD, vascular dementia, GVU, glial vascular unit, BBB, Blood-brain barrier, MMI, multiple microinfarct, GFAP, glial fibrillary acidic protein, Cx43, Connexin 43, PDGFRβ, platelet derived growth factor receptor β, ZO-1, zonula occludens-1

    Received: 03 Jun 2024; Accepted: 14 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Du, Liu, Chen, Ban, Zhu and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Guoqi Zhu, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China
    Jun Yang, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hefei, Anhui Province, China

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