Effects of moxibustion preconditioning on SOD and MDA in rats with global brain ischemia

Objective To reveal the mechanism of moxibustion preconditioning in preventive brain-protecting action. Methods The rat model of global brain ischemia was made with 4-artery ligation method. 78 Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: normal control group, sham-operation group, brain ischemia group, brain ischemia preconditioning group and moxibustion preconditioning group. The brain was taken 24 h, 48 h and 72 h after operation in the all groups, respectively, for determination of SOD activities by xanthine oxidase method and MDA content by thibabituric acid method. Results The SOD activity significantly increased, especially 24 h after the moxibustion preconditioning, and the MDA content decreased significantly with a very significant difference as compared with the ischemia group(P0.01). Conclusion Moxibustion preconditioning exerts the protective action on the brain tissue of ischemia and anoxia through increasing the endogenous anti-oxidase activity.