Abstract:

To observe the influence of the “Warming yang and Nourishing qi” acupuncture treatment in the serum acetylcholine receptor antibody (AchR-Ab) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) expression levels in the rats with experimental autoimmune myasthenis gravis (EAMG) and to analyze the mechanism of acupuncture treatment to myasthenis gravis (MG).Methods AchRα1 129-145 peptide fragments were used to immune the female Lewis rats to establish EAMG  models.30 successful EAMG model rats were randomly selected and divided into acupuncture treatment group,drug control group and model control group (n=10);the unmodelled 10 rats purchased at the same period were used as blank control group.The rats in acupuncture treatment group were treated with “Warming yang and Nourishing qi” acupuncture treatment,30 min per time,once a day,7 d for a period,1 d rest between two periods,two periods of continuous treatment.The rats in drug control group were treated with  pyridostigmine lavaged treatment,18.5 mg•kg^-1•d^-1，continuous treatment of 15 d.The rats in the other two groups had no any special treatment.24 h before and after treatment,the blood samples from the vein of tail root of the rats in 4 groups were collected,and the serum expression levels of AchR-Ab and IFN-γ were detected with ELISA method.Results Compared with model control group and before treatment, the serum AchR-Ab and IFN-γ expression levels of the EAMG rats　in acupuncture treatment and drug control group after treatment  were significantly decreased (P<0.05 or P<0.01);compared with blank control group, the serum AchR-Ab and IFN-γ expression levels of the rats in model control group were significantly increased(P<0.01);but there was no significant difference between acupuncture treatment group and control group after treatment (P>0.05).Conclusion “Warming yang and Nourishing qi” acupuncture treatment can reduce the serum AchR-Ab and IFN-γ expression levels of the  EAMG rats to treat MG.

Key words: acupuncture, experimental autoimmune myasthenia gravis, acetylcholine receptor antibody, interferon-gamma