c-Fos is known to related to synaptic plasticity and apoptosis in damage from ischemia or external injury. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether needle electrode electrical stimulation(NEES) is effective in increasing the number of c-Fos response cells and c-Fos expression in striatum after global ischemia in rats. There were no treatment and occlusion in the control group, global ischemia(GI) group were no treatment after carotid artery occlusion, and needle electrode electrical stimulation(NEES) group were treated with NEES after GI induced. The number of striatum c-Fos response cells and c-Fos protein expression significantly decreased in the NEES group compared to the GI group after 12, 24, 48 hours. The results of the present study suggest that NEES is ineffective in improving global ischemia in rats and may also be ineffective in the globally ischemic human brain.

Ischemia, the leading cause of strokes, is known to be deeply related to synaptic plasticity and apoptosis in tissue damage due to ischemic conditions or trauma. The purpose of this study was to research the effects of NEES(needle electrode electrical stimulation) in brain cells of ischemiainduced rat, more specifically the effects of Poly[ADP-ribose] polymerase(PARP) on the corpus striatum. Ischemia was induced in SD mice by occluding the common carotid artery for 5 minutes, after which blood was re-perfused. NEES was applied to acupuncture points, at 12, 24, and 48 hours post-ischemia on the joksamri, and at 24 hours postischemia on the hapgok. Protein expression was investigated through PARP antibody immuno-reactive cells in the cerebral nerve cells and western blotting. The number of PARP reactive cells in the corpus striatum 24 hours post-ischemia was significantly(p<.05) smaller in the NEES group compared to the global ischemia(GI) group. PARP expression 24 hours post-ischemia was very significantly smaller in the NEES group compared to the GI group. Results show that ischemia increases PARP expression and stimulates necrosis, making it a leading cause of death of nerve cells. NEES can decrease protein expression related to cell death, protecting neurons and preventing neuronal apoptosis.

This study was performed to investigate the effects of Needle Electrode Electrical Stimulation(NEES) on ischemia-induced cere˗ brovascular accidents. After obstruction and reperfusion of arteries in white mice, the amounts of necrosis and inflammation related sub˗ stances Bax, IL-6, Caspase-3, and COX-2 were measured in neurons of the fore-brain. The following results were obtained. This study used 21 male specific pathogen free(SPF) SD rats, 8 weeks of age and approximately 300g in weight. Each exposed artery was completely occluded with non-absorbent suture thread and kept in that state for 5 minutes. The sutures were then removed to allow reperfusion of blood. Test group is control group(common carotid artery occlusion models), a GI(underwent common carotid artery occlusion), and NEES(underwent NEES after artery occlusion). The GI and NEES groups were given 12, 24, or 48 hours of reperfusion before NEES. NEES device(PG6, ITO, Japan, 9V, current, 2Hz) was used to stimulate the bilateral acupoint ST36 of the SD rats for 30 minutes while they were sedated with 3% isoflurane. An immuno-his˗ tochemistry test was done on the forebrains of the GI induced rats. Both Bax and Caspase-3 immuno-reactive cells, related to apoptosis, were greater in the GI than the NEES group. Cox-2 and IL-6 immuno-reactive cells, related to inflammation, were greater in the GI and NEES groups than the control group. We can expect that applying NEES after ischemic CVA is effective for preventing brain cells from being destroyed. And we can conclude NEES should be applyed on early stage of ischemic CVA.

In most tissues, apoptosis plays a pivotal role in normal development and in regulation of cell number. Therefore inappropriate apoptosis is revealed in a variety of diseases. This study was carried out to investigate the effects of acupuncture and needle electrode electrical stimulation on the change of caspase-3, 9 and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) immunoreactive cells in the sprague dawley rats (SD rat). In immobilized SD rats (n=5), enhanced caspase-3 and caspase-9 expression were detected in the reticular part of substantia nigra, and enhanced nNOS was detected in the dorsolateral periaqueductal gray (DL-PAG) of midbrain and the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus using immunohistochemistry. Following the immobilization, acupuncture (n=5) and needle electrode electrical stimulation (n=5, 2 Hz) was applied at Hg (LI4) acupoint of SD rats, respectively. The stress-induced enhancement in the expression of caspase-3, 9 and nNOS were The present results demonstrate that and needle electrode electrical stimulation are effective in the modulation of expression of caspase-3, 9 and nNOS induced by immobilization.