Early acupuncture treatment protects neurons from traumatic damage in spinal cord

Traumatic spinal cord injury results in devastating consequence to individuals, their families and communities.  Early acupuncture treatment can rescue neurones in spinal cord from damage in a spinal cord injury model, suggests in a study published in journal Evidence based complementary and alternative medicine.

Traumatic spinal cord injury induces immediate severe pathophysiologic changes in spinal cord such as edema, inflammation, tissue compression, blood vessel damage, leading to cellular impairments e.g. oxidative damage, mitochondria dysfunction and initiation of apoptosis, then cell death. How to protect neurons in spinal cord from damage is vital for recovery and is an unmet challenge.

Researchers in China carried out a study to investigate the effects of early acupuncture treatment on neuronal survival after traumatic damage in a spinal cord injury model. The rats with a spinal injury at the level of the tenth thoracic vertebra were given acupuncture at 2 hours and 8 hours after spinal cord injury at acupoints DU16 and DU26 with either manual or electro acupuncture. Both acupoints are on Governor Vessel meridian which runs posterior along the interior spinal column and closely relates the function of spinal cord according to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine.

Results are quite interesting. Observation from histological sections of spinal cord from acupuncture treated groups showed normal cell morphology with reduced edema and haemorrhage compared with control group. Biomarkers for inflammation, oxidative damage and apoptosis were all significantly decreased in acupuncture groups compare to control.

The data showed that early acupuncture treatment protects neurons in spinal cord against traumatic injury by exerting anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic effects and act as antioxidant. This suggests that the earlier acupuncture treatment applied in spinal cord injury, the better neuroprotection, and then better functional recovery.

Reference:

Jiang S et al., Neuroprotective effects of different modalities of acupuncture on traumatic spinal cord injury in rats. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2014; 2014:431580.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24803946