Acupuncture Decreases NF‐κB p65, miR‐155, and miR‐21 and Increases miR‐146a Expression in Chronic Atrophic Gastritis Rats

Abstract

Acupuncture has been used to treat chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG) in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for centuries. In this study, we evaluated the effect of acupuncture at Zusanli (ST36), Zhongwan (CV12), and Pishu (BL20) acupoints on weight changes of rats, histological changes of gastric glands, and expressions changes of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) p65, microRNA- (miR-) 155, miR-21, and miR-146a in CAG rats induced by N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) combined with irregular diet. Consequently, we found that acupuncture treatment elevated body weight of rats significantly when compared to the model group. By observing histological changes, we found that the acupuncture group showed better improvement of gastric mucosa injury than the model group. Our results also demonstrated upregulation of NF-κB p65, miR-155, and miR-21 in gastric tissue of CAG rats and a positive correlation between miR-155 and miR-21. Relatively, expression of miR-146a was downregulated and negative correlation relationships between miR-146a and miR-155/miR-21 in CAG rats were observed. Additionally, expressions of NF-κB p65, miR-155, and miR-21 were downregulated and miR-146a was upregulated after acupuncture treatment. Taken together, our data imply that acupuncture can downregulate NF-κB p65, miR-155, and miR-21 and upregulate miR-146a expression in CAG rats. NF-κB p65, miR-155, miR-21, and miR-146a may play important roles in therapeutic effect of acupuncture in treating CAG.

Combined treatment with sinomenine and acupuncture on collagen‑induced arthritis through the NF‑κB and MAPK signaling pathway

“…Zhao et al (24) demonstrated that sinomenine inhibits the maturation of monocyte-derived dendritic cells through NF-κB expression. Furthermore, Zhang et al (25) demonstrated that acupuncture decreased NF-κB p65 expression in chronic atrophic rats with gastritis.…”

NMR-based metabolomics Reveals Alterations of Electro-acupuncture Stimulations on Chronic Atrophic Gastritis Rats

“…Acupuncture has been used as an alternative therapy to CAG6. The acupuncture treatment is normally conducted by stimulating specific points in human body (i.e.…”

Comparative metabolomics study on therapeutic mechanism of electro-acupuncture and moxibustion on rats with chronic atrophic gastritis (CAG)

“…Currently, both acupuncture and moxibustion have been shown to be effective on CAG in several studies 14 , 15 . And it has been reported that acupuncture can down-regulate the expression of miR-21, NF-γB p65 and miR-155 and up-regulate the expression of miR-146a in rats with CAG 16 . In our previous study, it was found that moxibustion can significantly decrease (epidermal growth factor) EGF, (transforming growth factor-α)TGF-α, (proliferating cell nuclear antigen)PCNA, (vascular endothelial growth factor)VEGF, (Ag-nucleolar organization regions)Ag-NORs in gastric mucosal of rats with CAG 17 .…”