Objective: To investigate the influence of pretrea tment with repeated electroacupun cture(EA)of “Zusanli”(ST 36) on the expression of HSP 90 in spinal cord isch em ia-reperfusion injury rabbits. Methods: 16 male New Zealan d white rabbits (2.0 ～2.5 kg) were randomly and evenly assigned to control group that received sodiu m pentobarbitone 30 mg/kg (i.v.) everyday continuosly for 5 days

and EA group tha t received anesthesia and EA of “Zusanli”(ST 36) 30 min a day for 5 days. Twenty-four h ours after the last treatment

spinal cord ischemia was induced by an infrarenal a ortic occlusion for 20 min. 48 h after ischemia-reperfusion

the rabbits we re killed and heat shock protein (HSP) 90 expression of the spinal cord (L 5～L 7) tiss ue was assayed with immunohistochemical method. Results: No signific ant differences we re found between two groups in mean femoral arterial pressure (MAP)

rectal temp erature

pH

partial pressure of oxygen (PaO 2)

partial pressure of CO 2 (PaC O 2) and glucose content of the femoral arterial blood. HSP 90 expression in the ante r ior horn of the spinal cord in EA group were significantly higher than that in c ontrol group 48 h after ischemia-reperfusion (P<0.01). Conclusion: Repeatitive el ectroacupuncture pretreatments at “Zusanli” can induce upregulation of HSP 90 e xpression in the lumbar spinal cord after infrarenal aortic occlusion

which may contribute to the protection effect of EA on the ischemic injured spinal cord.