Tuina Promotes Repair of Chronic Cervical Muscle Injury by Regulating Satellite Cell Proliferation and Differentiation and Inhibiting Myocyte Apoptosis - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2024 Oct 23:17:3419-3429.

doi: 10.2147/JPR.S475942. eCollection 2024.

Shenhua Qu # 2, Yuting Huang # 1, Xia Zhang 1, Xiubing Tong 1, Yanping Fang 1, Tianyu Rao 1, Kezhi Liu 1, Jia Lin 1, Yuye Lin 1, Chufan Zeng 1, Guojun Zhang 1, Xianghong Jing 3, Jun Liao 1, Yu Kan 1

Affiliations

Tuina Promotes Repair of Chronic Cervical Muscle Injury by Regulating Satellite Cell Proliferation and Differentiation and Inhibiting Myocyte Apoptosis

Jingyu Zhang et al. J Pain Res. 2024.

Abstract

Purpose: Chronic cervical muscle injury is the first common cause of the development of cervical spondylosis, and Tuina can effectively promote the repair of chronic cervical muscle injury and alleviate neck pain, but the mechanism behind its efficacy is still unknown. The proliferation and differentiation of muscle satellite cells and the apoptosis of cervical myocytes play important roles in the repair of chronic cervical muscle injuries; therefore, this study aimed to explore the potential mechanisms of Tuina to promote the repair of cervical muscle injuries in terms of the proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells and the apoptosis of myocytes.

Patients and methods: Twenty-eight Wistar rats were randomly divided into control group, model group, Tuina group, and meloxicam group, with 7 rats in each group. Except for the control group, each group were establish a chronic cervical muscle injury model (CCMI). Meloxicam (0.79 mg/kg) was administered by gavage, and in the Tuina group, pressure was applied to the Fengchi acupoint on the affected side once a day. Morphological changes of cervical muscle tissues were detected by ultrasonic diagnostic instrument and HE staining, electrophysiological recordings of electromyographic changes, apoptosis rate was detected by TUNEL staining, and positive expression of Bax, Bcl-2, IGF-1, MyoD, and Pax-7 were detected by Immunohistochemistry and Western blot.

Results: In CCMI model rats, we observed that the cervical muscle fibers were disorganized, with irregular morphology, and the amplitude of electromyography was significantly weakened, while Tuina could significantly improve these symptoms and effectively promote the repair of chronic cervical muscle injury. Meanwhile, compared with the model group, Tuina could significantly increase the expression levels of IGF-1 (P<0.01) and MyoD (P<0.05) and decrease the expression level of Pax7 (P<0.05). In addition, we found that the number of apoptotic cells in cervical myocytes was reduced after Tuina intervention (P<0.05), and Tuina inhibited the expression of pro-apoptotic factor Bax (P<0.01) and promoted the expression of anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 (P<0.05).

Conclusion: Tuina can promote the proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells to repair chronic cervical muscle injury by regulating the expression of Pax7, MyoD, and IGF-1, as well as inhibiting the expression of Bax and promoting the expression of Bcl-2 to ameliorate the apoptosis of cervical myocytes in CCMI model rats.

Keywords: Tuina; cervical spondylosis; neck pain; satellite cell.

© 2024 Zhang et al.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Experimental procedure in rat model of CCMI. Wistar rats were acclimatized for seven days to establish a CCMI rat model; the success of the CCMI model was evaluated after three months using EMG and ultrasonic; Tuina and drug interventions were performed on the first day of successful model preparation, and EMG and ultrasound tests and sampling were conducted and taken one month after the intervention.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Design drawing for the animal testing Tuina strength apparatus. (a) Finger cot. (b) Pressure sensors. (c) Tuina strength signal acquisition device. (d) processing unit. (e) Power supply unit. (f) Switching devices. (g) communications unit. (h) Bluetooth module.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Detection of indicators of successful replication in the rat CCMI model. (A) EMG testing of trapezius muscle tissues before intervention after modeling, which showed a significant attenuation of the EMG wave amplitude compared with the control group (b-d); (B) Ultrasonic examination of trapezius muscle tissues before intervention after modeling.

Figure 4

Figure 4

Tuina promotes morphological and functional repair of trapezius muscle tissue in CCMI model rats. (A) EMG test of the trapezius muscle tissue after the intervention, the amplitude of the EMG wave was significantly increased compared to the model group (c-d); (B) Ultrasonic examination of trapezius muscle tissues after the intervention. Note: The white arrows: (a) Normal cervical muscle tissue. (b) The damaged area of the cervical muscle tissue. (c-d) Recovery of cervical muscle tissue with aligned fibers; (C) Morphology of trapezius muscle tissue of rats in each group was observed by HE staining. (a) Normal cervical muscle morphology. (b) Irregular cervical muscle fibers with inflammatory infiltration. (c-d) Recovery of cervical muscle morphology after intervention.

Figure 5

Figure 5

Tuina promoted the proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells to repair chronic cervical muscle injury by regulating the expression of Pax7, MyoD, and IGF-1. Protein levels of Pax7 and MyoD in trapezius muscle tissues of rats were analyzed by Western blot (A–C). The expression of IGF-1 in the trapezius muscle tissues of the rats in each group was detected by immunohistochemical staining (D and E). Data are indicated as mean ± SD. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 when contrasted with the control group. #P < 0.05 when contrasted with the Model group.

Figure 6

Figure 6

Tuina ameliorated the apoptosis of cervical myocytes in the CCMI model rats by inhibiting the expression of Bax and promoting the expression of Bcl-2. Detection of apoptosis in rat trapezius muscle tissues by TUNEL staining (A and B). The expression of Bax in the rats’ trapezius muscle tissues of each group was detected by immunohistochemical staining (C and D). The expression of Bcl-2 in the rats’ trapezius muscle tissues of each group was detected by immunohistochemical staining (E and F). Data are indicated as mean ± SD. **P < 0.01 when contrasted with the control group. #P < 0.05, ##P < 0.01 when contrasted with the Model group.

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