Electroacupuncture Reprograms Gut Microbiota and Confers Cerebral Protection After Stroke through Enhanced Regulatory T Cell Response

Ischemic stroke seriously endangers both the health and quality of life of patients. The gut microbiota, which plays a crucial role in modulating communication between the gut and the nervous system, has emerged as a promising target for therapeutic interventions in stroke. Electroacupuncture (EA), which is associated with intestinal immunity, has been proven to exert significant beneficial effects in ischemic stroke, but its exact mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the regulatory mechanism of EA on the microbiome-gut-brain axis following ischemic stroke. In rat models of ischemic stroke, EA treatment significantly reduced cerebral infarct volume and neuronal damage following cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury, and also modulated the composition, diversity, and taxonomic distribution of the gut microbiota. Fecal microbiota transplantation from EA-treated donors significantly reduced cerebral infarct volume and neuronal damage in the ischemic hemisphere of recipient mice, and likewise upregulated Treg cell expression to suppress immune-inflammatory responses in the brain. These results indicate that, through modulation of the gut microbiota, which in turn regulates Treg-mediated immune-inflammatory responses, EA ameliorates cerebral ischemic injury to thereby improve the prognosis of ischemic stroke patients. This study provides new perspectives on the efficacy of EA in the treatment of ischemic stroke.