Objective To observe the effect of acupotomy therapy on cervicomuscular apoptosis and apoptosis regulator Bax protein expression in cervical spondylosis(CS)rabbits so as to investigate its mechanisms underlying improvement of CS.Methods Twenty-four New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into normal control

model

acupotomy and electroacupuncture(EA)groups

with 6rabbits in each group.The CS model was made by forced head-bowing for 5hours in a restrained chamber

once daily for 12weeks.Acupotomy was performed at the starting point of trapezius

the mastoid process attaching point of sternocleidomastoid

the cerverical vertebrae joint process or the local induration or cord-like mass(2or 3points of them were used as the needle-knife entering points)

once a week for 3weeks.For animals of the EA group

EA(2Hz/100Hz

2mA)was applied to bilateral"Tianzhu"(BL 10)

"Jingbailao"(EX-HN 15)

"Dazhu"(BL 11)for 20min

once daily and 3times a week for 3weeks.The number of apoptotic cells in the cervical muscle was observed by light microscope after TUNEL staining and muscular Bcl-2and Bax protein expression was detected by Western blot.Results In comparison with the control group

the number of cervicomuscular apoptotic cells

and the expression level of cervicomuscular Bax protein were significantly increased

and the Bcl-2/Bax was obviously decreased in the model group(P<0.01

P<0.05).Compared to the model group

the number of apoptotic cells and the expression level of muscular Bax protein were notably decreased in the acupotomy group(P<0.01

P<0.05)

while the ratio of Bcl-2and Bax was apparently increased in the acupotomy group(P<0.05).The effects of acupotomy were significantly superior to those of EA in lowering apoptotic cell number and in up-regulating Bcl-2/Bax(P<0.01

P<0.05).No significant differences were found between the EA and model groups in the apoptotic cell number and among the four groups in Bcl-2protein expression levels(P>0.05).Conclusion Acupotomy therapy can reduce cervicomuscular cellular apoptosis and Bax protein expression in CS rabbits

which may be one of its mechanism underlying improving CS.