This paper presents an automatic acquisition and analytic procedure of acupuncture manipulation based on optical navigation, aiming at solving the shortcomings of existing acquisition methods of acupuncture manipulation. An acquisition holder installed at the handle tail of filiform needle was designed to display the movement trajectory of the needle during acupuncture delivery by collecting the movement trajectory of holder. The 3-month old male Bama miniature pig was selected as the experimental subject, and 6 points, "Bojian" "Qiangfeng" "Housanli" "Xiaokua" "Huiyang" (BL35) and "Baihui" (GV20), were selected during acupuncture manipulation. The optical navigation system was used to collect the real-time data, and these data were per-processed and analyzed using mean filtering and Fourier transform. The acupuncture procedure was divided into 3 stages, inserting, lifting-thrusting, and twisting. The results showed that the accuracy was 96.3% at lifting-thrusting stage, and that was 100.0% at twisting stage. The decomposition effect of the entire procedure was satisfactory. This study provides a new approach to the quantitative analysis of acupuncture manipulation. In the future, it needs to further optimize the algorithm and expand the sample size so as to improve the accuracy of this analytic technique.
Acupuncture Therapy/methods* ; Male ; Animals ; Swine ; Acupuncture Points ; Humans ; Swine, Miniature ; Needles

This study explored whether Astragalus polysaccharide(APS)can regulate the VEGF/VEGFR signaling pathway to affect the proliferative activity of rat intestinal mucosal microvascu-lar endothelial cells(RIMMVECs).RIMMVECs were isolated from newborn rats,then purified and treated with APS at concentrations of 0.1,1.0,10.0,100.0,1 000.0,and 10 000.0 mg/L.MTT was used to determine the effect of APS on RIMMVECs proliferation and screen for the optimal concentration of APS.Subsequently,flow cytometry was used to detect the changes in cell cycle to evaluate the stage of action of APS on the cell cycle in RIMMVECs.Then,the ELISA was used to detect the changes of VEGFA in cell supernatant to evaluate the potential of cell proliferation and angiogenesis.The changes in fluorescence intensity of Fluo-8AM was observed using fluorescence microscopy to evaluate intracellular Ca2+levels.Finally,Western blot was used to detect the ex-pression of PERK in RIMMVECs to analyze the possible mechanism of APS.The results showed that 100 mg/L APS significantly enhanced the proliferative activity of RIMMVECs,increased the content of VEGFA in the cell supernatant,the intracellular Ca2+levels,and the expression of PERK protein,indicating that APS promotes the proliferation of RIMMVECs,which may be a-chieved by promoting the expression of VEGFA and activating the ERK pathway.

This study explored whether Astragalus polysaccharide(APS)can regulate the VEGF/VEGFR signaling pathway to affect the proliferative activity of rat intestinal mucosal microvascu-lar endothelial cells(RIMMVECs).RIMMVECs were isolated from newborn rats,then purified and treated with APS at concentrations of 0.1,1.0,10.0,100.0,1 000.0,and 10 000.0 mg/L.MTT was used to determine the effect of APS on RIMMVECs proliferation and screen for the optimal concentration of APS.Subsequently,flow cytometry was used to detect the changes in cell cycle to evaluate the stage of action of APS on the cell cycle in RIMMVECs.Then,the ELISA was used to detect the changes of VEGFA in cell supernatant to evaluate the potential of cell proliferation and angiogenesis.The changes in fluorescence intensity of Fluo-8AM was observed using fluorescence microscopy to evaluate intracellular Ca2+levels.Finally,Western blot was used to detect the ex-pression of PERK in RIMMVECs to analyze the possible mechanism of APS.The results showed that 100 mg/L APS significantly enhanced the proliferative activity of RIMMVECs,increased the content of VEGFA in the cell supernatant,the intracellular Ca2+levels,and the expression of PERK protein,indicating that APS promotes the proliferation of RIMMVECs,which may be a-chieved by promoting the expression of VEGFA and activating the ERK pathway.

Objective:To evaluate the role of stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signaling pathway in carbon monoxide (CO)-releasing molecule-3 (CORM-3)-induced reduction of hepatocyte pyroptosis and apoptosis in a rat model of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion.Methods:Forty-eight clean-grade healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats, aged 9-11 weeks, weighing 320-380 g, were divided into 4 groups ( n=12 each) using a random number table method: sham operation group (S group), ischemia-reperfusion group (IR group), CORM-3 group (C group) and STING agonist ADU-S100 group (A group).Hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury models were developed by reversible ligation of left middle hepatic artery, portal vein and bile duct branches for 45 min, followed by reperfusion in anesthetized animals in IR, C and A groups.In group C, CORM-3 4 mg/kg was injected into the femoral vein immediately after reperfusion.The equal volume of normal saline containing dimethyl sulfoxide was injected into the femoral vein in S, IR and A groups.At 1.5 h after injection into the femoral vein, ADU-S100 10 mg/kg was intraperitoneally injected in A group, and the equal volume of normal saline was given instead in S, IR and C groups.The serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase (AST) concentrations were determined at 3 h of reperfusion.The rats were sacrificed at 12 h of reperfusion, and liver tissues were collected for determination of the content of CO (by colorimetry), expression of interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), IL-18, Bcl-2, Bax, interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3), phosphorylated IRF3 (p-IRF3), STING, NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3), aspirin D (GSDMD) and activated caspase-1 (by Western blot), and pyroptosis and apoptosis rates of hepatocytes (by immunofluorescence staining).The liver injury was scored. Results:Compared with group S, the serum ALT and AST concentrations, liver injury score, CO content, and pyroptosis and apoptosis rates of hepatocytes were significantly increased, and the expression of IL-1β, IL-18, p-IRF3, STING, NLRP3, GSDMD and activated caspase-1 was up-regulated, and the Bcl-2/Bax ratio was decreased in group IR ( P<0.05).Compared with group IR, the serum ALT and AST concentrations, liver injury score, and pyroptosis and apoptosis rates of hepatocytes were significantly decreased, the CO content was increased, the expression of IL-1β, IL-18, p-IRF3, STING, NLRP3, GSDMD and activated caspase-1 was down-regulated, and the Bcl-2/Bax ratio was increased in group C ( P<0.05).Compared with group C, the serum ALT and AST concentrations, liver injury score, and pyroptosis and apoptosis rates of hepatocytes were significantly increased, the CO content was decreased, the expression of IL-1β, IL-18, p-IRF3, STING, NLRP3, GSDMD and activated caspase-1 was up-regulated, and the Bcl-2/Bax ratio was decreased in group A ( P<0.05). Conclusions:The mechanism by which CORM-3 attenuates hepatocyte pyroptosis and apoptosis may be related to the inhibition of activation of STING signaling pathway in a rat model of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion.