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Souza et al. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2019;6:12 Neuroimmunology
DOI: 10.20517/2347-8659.2019.04 and Neuroinflammation

Original Article Open Access

Bee venom acupuncture reduces neuroinflammation
modulating microglia/macrophage phenotype

polarization in spinal cord injury compression
model

Raquel do Nascimento de Souza , Júlia Miccolis Azevedo Lopes , Lívia da Rocha Natalino Monteiro ,
1
1
1
Raiana Andrade Quintanilha Barbosa , Gabriela Hollmann , Silvana Allodi , Luis Carlos Reis , Magda
2
2
1
2
Alves de Medeiros 1
1 Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biology and Health Sciences, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro,
Seropedica 23897-000, RJ, Brazil.
2 Carlos Chagas Filho Institute of Biophysics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, RJ, Brazil.
Correspondence to: Dr. Magda Alves de Medeiros, Department of Physiological Sciences, Institute of Biological and Health
Sciences, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), BR465, Km 7, Seropedica, 23897-000, RJ, Brazil.
E-mail: magda.medeiros@gmail.com
How to cite this article: Souza RN, Lopes JMA, Monteiro LRN, Barbosa RAQ, Hollmann G, Allodi S, Reis LC, Medeiros MA. Bee
venom acupuncture reduces neuroinflammation modulating microglia/macrophage phenotype polarization in spinal cord injury
compression model. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2019;6:12. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-8659.2019.04
Received: 30 Jul 2019 First Decision: 2 Sep 2019 Revised: 24 Sep 2019 Accepted: 10 Oct 2019 Published: 8 Nov 2019

Science Editor: Athanassios P. Kyritsis Copy Editor: Jin-Wen Zhang Production Editor: Jing Yu

Abstract
Aim: The present study aimed to examine whether apipuncture (stimulation of acupuncture points with bee venom)
at ST36 and GV3 acupoints promotes neuroprotection and reduces neuroinflammation by modulating M1 and M2
phenotype polarization.

Methods: Wistar rats were treated with bee venom (BV) (0.08 mg/kg) injection at acupoints ST36 and GV3 [BV
(ST36 + GV3)-spinal cord injury (SCI)] or BV injection at non-acupoints [BV (NP)-SCI] or no treatment (CTL-SCI)
after SCI by compression. The spinal cord mRNA expression of iNOS, Arg-1 and TGF-β was measured by real time
PCR and the levels of IBA-1; BCL-2; NeuN e CNPase was measured by western blotting. Locomotor performance was
measured by Basso, Beattie, and Bresnahan (BBB) and grid-walking tests.

Results: Apipuncture treatment was able to (1) ameliorate locomotor performance; (2) reduce inflammatory markers
(Cox-2 levels) and activation of microglia and macrophages; (3) reduce the polarization of the M1 phenotype marker

© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use,
sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long
as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license,
and indicate if changes were made.

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