Electroacupuncture alleviates myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury by inhibiting hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus neurons projecting to the rostral ventrolateral medulla

Abstract Accumulating evidence suggests that electroacupuncture (EA) has obvious therapeutic effects and unique advantages in alleviating myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury (MIRI), while the underlying neuromolecular mechanisms of EA intervention for MIRI have not been fully elucidated. The aim of the study is to investigate the role of the neural pathway of hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) neurons projecting to the rostral ventrolateral medulla (RVLM) in the alleviation of MIRI rats by EA preconditioning. MIRI models were established by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery for 30 min followed by reperfusion for 2 h. Electrocardiogram recording, chemogenetics, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay, multichannel physiology recording and haematoxylin–eosin and immunofluorescence staining methods were conducted to demonstrate that the firing frequencies of neurons in the PVN and the expression of c‐Fos decreased by EA pretreatment. Meanwhile, EA preconditioning significantly reduced the levels of creatine kinase isoenzymes (CK‐MB), cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH). Virus tracing showed a projection connection between PVN and RVLM. The inhibition of the PVN‐RVLM neural pathway could replicate the protective effect of EA pretreatment on MIRI rats. However, the activation of the pathway weakened the effect of EA preconditioning. EA pretreatment alleviated MIRI by regulating PVN neurons projecting to RVLM. This work provides novel evidence of EA pretreatment for alleviating MIRI.