Objective:To investigate the effect of warm-reinforcing needling(WRN)on serum lipid metabolism in hyperlipoidemia(HL)rabbits.Methods:A total of 32 rabbits were randomly and evenly divided into control group

WRN group

model group and uniform reinforcing-reducing needling(URRN)group.HL model was established by feeding the rabbits with hyper-cholesterol and high-fat forage continuously for 7 weeks.For rabbits of WRN and URRN groups

“Zusanli”(ST 36)

“Sanyinjiao”(SP 6)

“Xuehai”(SP 10)were punctured and stimulated manually with WRN and URRN techniques respectively

once daily

continuously for 7 weeks.At the end of experiments

blood samples were collected from the heart

and centrifuged for detecting serum total cholesterol(TC)triglyceride(TG)and high density lipoprotein(HDL)with enzyme method

and platelet aggregation rate(PAR)with an intelligent blood agglutometer.Low density lipoprotein(LDL)=TC-(HDL+TG/2.2).Results:Compared with normal control group

serum TC

TG and LDL contents in model group

WRN and URRN groups increased significantly(P<0.01)

and HDL content of model group decreased considerably(P<0.01);while in comparison with model group

serum TC

LDL and TG contents of WRN and URRN groups decreased considerably(P<0.01)

and serum HDL levels of WRN and URRN groups increased significantly(P<0.01).Serum TC content of WRN group was markedly lower than that of URRN group(P<0.05)

and HDL of WRN group was remarkably higher than that of URRN group(P<0.01).In comparison with normal control group

1 min

5 min and maximum PARs in model

WRN and URRN groups increased significantly(P<0.01)

while in comparison with model group

1 min

5 min and maximum PARs of WRN and URRN groups decreased considerably(P<0.01).In addition

1 min and maximum PARs in WRN group were markedly lower than those in URRN group(P<0.05).Light microscopic observation showed that the apoptotic foam cells in the lipid plaque of aorta wall in model group appeared and were obviously more than those of WRN and URRN groups.Conclusion:Acupuncture can effectively lower serum TC

LDL and TG levels

raise serum HDL content

and suppress platelet aggregation

and the therapeutic effect of WRN is significantly superior to that of URRN

which may contribute to the action of acupuncture in regulating blood lipid and inhibiting the formation of atheromatous plaque.