Myocardial protective effects of electroacupuncture and hypothermia on porcine heart after ischemia/reperfusion.

The study was carried out in order to observe the protective effects of electroacupuncture (EA) and hypothermia on myocardial ischemic and reperfusion injury in pigs. Blood superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and its isoenzyme (CK-MB), coronary artery flow (CAF) and myocardial heat-shock protein (HSP) mRNA expression were detected. It was observed that the MDA content increased and SOD activities decreased more significantly in control group compared with EA and EA+ hypothermia groups. CPK and CK-MB were found significantly increased in all three groups, but more remarkable in control group than in EA and EA+ hypothermia groups. HSP70 mRNA expression was found to be more in EA and EA+ hypothermia groups than that in control group 60 min after reperfusion. The results indicated that EA enhance the myocardial protection of hypothermia on ischemia/reperfusion injury. The mechanism may be related to the improvement of antioxidation and increased expression of HSP70 gene.