Figure 7

Reduction in inflammatory cytokine production in ischemic brain by EA treatment in wild-type but not in MCPIP1 knockout mice. The results showed that the expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and MCP-1 were significantly elevated in shams in MCPIP1 knockout mice than that of wild type (for example TNF-α 1 ± 0.27 versus 2.8 ± 0.35) and that the expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and MCP-1 were significantly reduced at 24 h after MCAO in EA-pretreated wild-type mice compared to that of control. In the MCPIP1-deficient mice, there was no significant difference in proinflammatory cytokine expression between the EA-pretreated and the control group without EA treatment. Values represent mean ± SD, n = 6 mice per group. EA, electroacupuncture; IL-1β, interleukin-1 beta; MCAO, middle cerebral artery occlusion; MCPIP1, monocyte chemotactic protein-induced protein 1; TNF-α, tumor necrosis factor-alpha; SD, standard deviation.