Abstract: Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of electroacupuncture on mRNA and protein expression of eNOS and protein expression of MMP-9 in rats after focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion. Methods The SD rats were received filament occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery for 2 hours followed by reperfusion for 1d, 3d, 7d, respectively. Rats were randomly divided into control group, model group and EA group. After 2h of the reperfusion, EA was selected at bilateral “Hegu” point (LI 4) in the EA group. Immunohistochemical method was selected to detect the expression of eNOS protein in the cortical ischemic region. RT-PCR method was used to detect the expression of eNOS mRNA. The expression of eNOS and MMP-9 protein was detected by Western Blotting. Results Compared with the control group, the protein and mRNA expression of eNOS were increased significantly in the model and EA groups (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the mRNA and protein expression of eNOS were increased significantly in EA groups (P<0.01). The protein expression of eNOS arrived peak in reperfusion 3d subgroups: control group (0.4291±0.0173), model group (0.7374±0.0252), EA group (0.8536±0.0212), the difference with the three groups had a statistic value (P<0.01). Compared with the control group, the protein expression of MMP-9 were increased significantly in the model and EA groups (P<0.01). The expression of MMP-9 protein was deceased significantly in the 1d subgroup in EA (P<0.01), but increased significantly in the 3d, 7d subgroups (P<0.01). Conclusions EA treatment up-regulates the protein and mRNA expression of eNOS and the protein expression of MMP-9 in rats after focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion.

Key words: Key words: Electroacupuncture, Focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion, eNOS, MMP-9, Vascular regeneration, “Hegu” point