Electroacupuncture Improves Choroidal Blood Flow to Inhibit the Development of Lens-Induced Myopia in Guinea Pigs
Ting Yu, Xiaofeng Xie, Huixia Wei, Qiuxin Wu, Xiuyan Zhang, Qingmei Tian, Jike Song, Hongsheng Bi
Abstract
Introduction. The purpose of this paper was to study the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on choroidal blood flow (ChBF) in a guinea pig model of lens-induced myopia (LIM). Methods. Guinea pigs were randomly divided into 4 groups: normal control (NC) group, LIM group, LIM + electroacupuncture (LIM + EA) group, and LIM + sham acupoint (LIM + sham) group. Right eyes were covered with a −6D lens to induce myopia. Meanwhile, LIM + EA group and LIM + sham group were treated with EA at acupoints Hegu (LI4) and Taiyang (EX-HN5) and sham points. Refraction, axial length (AL), choroidal thickness (ChT), vessel density of choriocapillaris (CC) and choroidal layer, and scleral collagen fiber were measured. Besides, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α), matrix metalloprotein-2 (MMP-2), and tissue inhibitor metalloprotease-2 (TIMP-2) expression in sclera were detected. Results. Refraction and AL were significantly decreased and ChT and vessel density of CC were significantly increased in LIM + EA group at 2 weeks and 4 weeks (all <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"><a:mi>P</a:mi><a:mo><</a:mo><a:mn>0.05</a:mn></a:math> ) compared with LIM group. However, no significant difference of vessel density of choroidal layer was observed between LIM and LIM + EA group at 2 weeks and 4 weeks. Scleral collagen fibrils diameters were significantly increased in LIM + EA group at 4 weeks ( <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"><c:mi>P</c:mi><c:mo><</c:mo><c:mn>0.001</c:mn></c:math> ) compared with LIM group. At the end of experiment, the mRNA and protein expression of HIF-1α and MMP-2 were significantly decreased (all <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"><e:mi>P</e:mi><e:mo><</e:mo><e:mn>0.05</e:mn></e:math> ) and those of TIMP-2 were increased in LIM + EA, compared with LIM. However, there were no significant differences between LIM and LIM + sham group. Conclusions. EA can improve the vessel density of choroid and then possibly improve scleral hypoxia, which may inhibit the growth of the AL in myopia guinea pig.