Effects of electroacupuncture with dexmedetomidine on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.

Background: To investigate the protective effect of electroacupuncture combined with dexmedetomidine (EA + Dex) on oxidative stress injury in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) rats.
Methods: A total of 50 male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: sham operation (sham group); I/R group; dexmedetomidine group (Dex group); electroacupuncture group (EA group); and EA + Dex group. The myocardial I/R model was established. The EA group received EA at the Neiguan acupoint [pericardium 6 (PC6)] every day for 1 week before modeling. Rats in the EA + Dex group received EA at PC6 every day for 1 week before modeling, and intraperitoneal injection of Dex was performed 15 minutes before modeling. Dex was injected intraperitoneally in the Dex group 15 minutes before modeling. The rats were sacrificed 1 hour after reperfusion, and myocardial tissue was obtained to measure the myocardial infarction area. The myocardial tissue pathologic changes were shown by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining, and the superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) content in serum was determined.
Results: Compared with the sham group, the myocardial infarction area was significantly increased (P<0.01), SOD and ATP content was significantly decreased (P<0.01), and MDA and ROS content was significantly increased (P<0.01) in the I/R group; this change was significantly reduced in the Dex, EA, and EA + Dex groups (P<0.01). The indicators in the EA + Dex group were better than those in the EA and Dex groups (P<0.05). There was no significant change in the above indices in the Dex group compared with the EA group (P>0.05).
Conclusions: EA + Dex pretreatment improved the damage of myocardial I/R by increasing SOD and ATP content and reducing the generation of MDA and ROS in an oxygen-free radical system.