The present paper is to study the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) o
n acute ischemic stroke patient and acute cerebral ischemic rat. In cl
inic, 42 acute ischemic stroke patients were randomly divided into 2 t
herapeutic groups: drug group and EA+drug group. Neurological deficits
of patients were evaluated before and after the treatment by Chinese
Stroke Scale. The results showed that the acute ischemic stroke patien
ts treated by drug or EA+drug were all partially recovered, but the cl
inical functional recovery in EA+drug group was significantly better t
han in the drug group(P<0.01). In laboratory, the model of reversible
middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) was used in rats. The somatose
nsory evoked potential(SEP) was recorded before and after MCAO. EA was
applied one hour after cerebral ischemia and once a day after reperfu
sion for 7 days in EA+MCAO group. It was shown that the amplitude of P
1-N1 wave of SEP before MCAO was 100%. After MCAO 30min the P1-N1 wave
of SEP on the ipsilateral side of MCAO was decreased to 2.2+/-3%(MCAO
group), 1.9+/-2% (MCAO+EA group); and then recovered to 25.5+/-14.1%(
MCAO group), 58.6+/-27.2% (MCAO+EA group) after 7 days of reperfusion
following MCAO 2 hours. The above results indicated that EA could prom
ote the recovery of neurological function in acute ischemic stroke pat
ients and SEP on MCAO rats.