Electroacupuncture Orchestrates Intestinal Flora Remodeling: A Step Forward in Alleviating High Salt-Induced Vasculopathy

Summary

This study investigated the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on high-salt-induced vascular dysfunction. EA reversed vascular damage and gut dysbiosis, possibly by modulating specific gut microbes.

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the therapeutic potential and mechanisms of electroacupuncture (EA) in alleviating vascular dysfunction caused by high-salt diets, with a focus on gut microbiota modulation. We randomly divided 21 rats into Normal Control, High-Salt Model, and EA Intervention groups (n = 7 per group). The "high-salt blood stasis syndrome" model in Wistar rats was induced by intragastric perfusion of 12% NaCl. Treatments were performed between 17:00 and 19:00 Beijing time: rats were restrained with a soft cloth, followed by 20-min EA stimulation at BL23 and KI3. After the experiment, rat blood, blood vessels, and fecal samples were collected. Vascular effects were evaluated via coagulation function test, hemorheological analysis, and arterial histopathological assessment. 16S rDNA sequencing was used to analyze the composition and abundance changes of gut microbiota. The findings revealed that chronic high-salt intake disrupted blood viscosity, damaged vascular endothelial integrity, and caused gut microbial dysbiosis. Remarkably, EA treatment effectively reversed these pathological changes. Correlation analysis further identified specific gut microbiota (e.g., Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae) that strongly correlated with altered blood viscosity parameters (P < 0.05). Therefore, the present study concludes that high-salt diet-induced vasculopathy can be reversed by EA treatment, which may be attributed to EA's ability to regulate gut microbiota involved in bile acid metabolism and short-chain fatty acid synthesis.

Introduction

Dietary salt plays a crucial role in maintaining fluid balance and cellular homeostasis, yet excessive consumption represents a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease¹. The World Health Organization recommends limiting daily sodium intake to less than 5 grams for healthy adults². Research has demonstrated that a high salt diet (HSD) impairs vascular function and that cardiovascular disease (CVD), the most prevalent disease in the world, is often accompanied by vasculopathy³. These findings underscore that repairing vascular endothelial damage caused by HSD cons....

Protocol

The entire experiment was conducted at the Experimental Center of the Basic Medical School of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. All animal welfare and experimental procedures were approved by the Laboratory Animal Welfare Ethics Committee of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Ethics No. 2024078). Experiments were performed strictly following the NIH Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (1986 revision, Publication 86-23).

Animals and diet
Male and female specific pathogen-free (SPF) Wistar rats, aged 6-8 weeks, weighed 200 ± 20 g. All rats were housed in well-ventilated room....

Results

Validation of the animal model
The four coagulation parameters play a pivotal role in vascular lesion research by monitoring coagulation function abnormalities closely linked to vascular pathological changes. Post-modeling evaluation of retro-orbital venous plexus blood demonstrated significant alterations in coagulation parameters (PT, APTT, FIB, TT) between HS/EA groups versus NC controls (Figure 3). Specific test values are provided in Supplementary Table 1

Discussion

Vascular lesions are a critical factor in the development and pathological manifestations of various CVD and metabolic disorders. Their detrimental effects include vascular dysfunction, abnormal blood clotting, lipid deposition, and plaque formation, which can lead to elevated blood pressure, thrombosis, and arterial plaque development, ultimately resulting in various CVD^14,15,16. Therefore, timely intervention to halt the progr.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Acupuncture needles	Suzhou Medical Supplies Factory Co., Ltd.	242059	0.18 × 13 mm
Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APTT) Assay Kit (Clotting Method)	Beijing Succeeder Technology Inc.	R21D24C4
AMPure XP beads	Beckman Coulter Genomics	A63881
Automatic Coagulation Analyzer	Beijing Succeeder Technology Inc.	SF-8050
Fibrinogen (FIB) Assay Kit (Clotting Method)	Beijing Succeeder Technology Inc.	R31D24D2
Fully Automatic Blood Rheology Tester	Beijing Succeeder Technology Inc.	SA-5600
GraphPad Prism 10	GraphPad Software, Inc.
H&E staining solution	Wuhan Saiweier Biotechnology Co., Ltd	G1005
Illumina library quantification kit	Kapa Biosciences	7960166001
Isoflurane	RWD Life Science	R510-22-10	100 mL
Magnetic bead-based stool genomic DNA extraction kit	Biotek	AU46111-96
Nikon Eclipse Ci-L upright white light microscope	Nikon
QIIME 2	https://qiime2.org/
SDZ-II Huatuo electronic acupuncture device	Suzhou Medical Supplies Factory Co., Ltd.	SDZ-II
SILVA database	Release 138, https://www.arb-silva.de/
Sodium chloride	Chengdu Jinshan Chemical Reagents Co., Ltd.	20231008	500 g
SPF Wistar rats	SPF (Beijing) Biotechnology Co., Ltd.	SCXK (Beijing) 2024-0001
Thrombin Time (TT) Assay Kit (Clotting Method)	Beijing Succeeder Technology Inc.	R4D24E1