Both right and left facial nerve of rabbits were crushed and the degree of the injury was Sunderland Ⅳ. Then the injuried rabbits were devided into treatment and control group. One week after injury

pulse electroacupuncture stimulations at acupoints(PEASA) were performed in the treatment group

while the control group was left recovering naturally. The acupoints included “Yifeng"

“Quanliao"

“Jiache"

“Dicang"

“Sibai"

“Yangbai" and “Hegu".Two weeks was a course of the treatment.In this experimental model

we have showed facial nerve regeneration had been improved by acupointpuncture pathologically and electro physiologically.But on molecular level it has been a little known how about the effects of acupuncture on neurotrophic factors during the nerve regeneration. When the first(3w)

second(6w)

and third(9w)course of the treatment were finished we used in situ hybridization and reverse transcription PCR technique to observe the changes of mRNA expression of NGF in facial nucleus

facial nerve and mimetic muscle tissue.The results were as follows∶(1) mRNA expression of NGF reached the highest level in the sixth week posttrauma in both treatment and control groups;(2) In mimetic muscle tissue

both in situ and RT PCR technique showed expressional level of mRNA for NGF in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the control group(P< 0.01 ).In nerve and nerve nucleus tissue

only in situ technique showed the sign of NGF was stronger in the treatment group than that in the control group.This experiment result suggests some molecular mechanism taking part in the effects of acupuncture.