Electroacupuncture enhances striatal neurogenesis in adult rat brains after a transient cerebral middle artery occlusion

In this study, we investigated the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) on ischemia -induced neurogenesis in the striatum of adult rat brains with a 30-minute middle cerebral artery occlusion. Injection of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU, 30 mg/kg, i.p., cell proliferation marker) and 1,1'-dioctadecyl-6,6'-di(4-sulfophenyl)-3,3',3',3' -tetramethylindocarbo-cyanine (DiI, 1 mu g/mu l, i.c.v, lipophilic neuronal tracer) combined with multiple fluorescence immunostaining were used to determine whether the proliferated cells were newly generated neurons and where they originated from in the brain. We demonstrated that EA treatment (60 Hz 1 s and 2 Hz 3 s alternately at an intensity of 10 mA for 20 min on 'Fengfu",GV 16 and "Jinsuo", GV.8) enhanced stroke-induced striatal neurogenesis in rat brains as follows: 1) EA increased the number of BrdU(+) cells, indicating that it activates cell proliferation; 2) EA increased BrdU(+)/CRMP-4(+) (collapsing response mediated protein-4, immature neuron marker) and BrdU(+)/MAP-2(+) (microtubule-associated protein 2, mature neuron marker) cells, suggesting that it facilitates neurogenesis and maturation of newly generated neurons; 3) EA expanded the distribution of DiI-stained cells in the striatum. Moreover, most BrdU(+)/CRMP-4(+) or BrdU(+)/MAP-2(+) cells in the striatum were observed DiI(+) staining. Thus, the results suggest that striatal newborn neurons mainly migrate from the cells lining ventricle. Therefore, we conclude that EA can improve neuronal regeneration, newborn neuron migration and their maturation in the striatum of adult rat brains after stroke.