OBJECTIVETo reveal the mechanism of moxibustion preconditioning in preventive brain-protecting action.

METHODSThe rat model of global brain ischemia was made with 4-artery ligation method. 78 Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: normal control group, sham-operation group, brain ischemia group, brain ischemia preconditioning group and moxibustion preconditioning group. The brain was taken 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after operation in the all groups, respectively, for determination of SOD activities by xanthine oxidase method and MDA content by thibabituric acid method.

RESULTSThe SOD activity significantly increased, especially 24 h after the moxibustion preconditioning, and the MDA content decreased significantly with a very significant difference as compared with the ischemia group(P<0.01).

CONCLUSIONMoxibustion preconditioning exerts the protective action on the brain tissue of ischemia and anoxia through increasing the endogenous anti-oxidase activity.