Electroacupuncture may promote the repair of spinal cord injury in rats by regulating the perineuronal net through Chst11

Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the expression of perineuronal net(PNN) and parvalbumin positive interneuron(PV + IN) in spinal cord injured rats and to characterize the effect of electroacupuncture(EA) on the modulation of PNN and PV + IN via Chst11. EA stimulation of jiaji acupoints (EX-B2) was started on day 1 after preparation of the spinal cord injury(SCI) model using the IH 0400 spinal cord impactor for 14 days. And chondroitinase ABC was used to treat spinal cord injured rats and compared with EA. A specially adapted adeno-associated virus (Chst11) was also injected into the T9 spinal cord of rats and combined with Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan scoring, in vivo fibre optic calcium imaging, western blotting and immunofluorescence. The results suggest that EA can effectively ameliorate the destruction of PNN structure and function after SCI, increase the activity of PV + IN, promote the regeneration of chondroitin sulfate and reverse the inhibitory effect of Chst11 on injury repair, maintain the balance of neuronal plasticity and stability, and promote spinal cord repair after injury.