Objective To observe the effect of electroacupunctur(EA) of Shuigou(GV 26)on the expression of vascular protein kinase C(PKC) in the focal ischemia cerebral tissue in rats so as to study its dynamic regulation mechanism.Methods A total of 78 Wistar rats were randomly divided into model group(n=24)

EA group(n=24)

sham operation(sham) group(n=24) and control group(n=6).The first 3 groups were further divided into 0.5 h

1 h

3 h and 6 h subgroups

with 6 cases in each.Cerebral ischemia(CI) model was established by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery.EA(15 Hz

1.0 mA) was applied to "Shuigou"(GV 26) for 20 min.The anterior

middle and posterior cerebral arteries on the infarct side of the brain were collec-ted for assaying the expression of PKC protein by using Western blot

and the formalin-fixed artery samples were embedded with paraffin

followed by sectioning and staining with immunohistochemistry.Results Compared with the control group

the expression levels of cerebral vascular smooth PKC protein shown by both immunohistochemistry and Western blot were upregulated significantly at the time-points of 0.5 h

1 h

3 h and 6 h after CI in the model group(P<0.05

P<0.01).In comparison with the model group

the expression levels of PKC protein in the cerebral vascular smooth muscle shown by the aforementioned two metho-ds were down-regulated considerably in the EA group(P<0.01

P<0.05).No statistic differences were found between the control and sham groups in the expression of vascular PKC protein at different time-points(P>0.05).Conclusion EA intervention can significantly inhibit PKC expression in the cerebral vascular smooth muscle in CI rats

which may be responsible for its efficacy in improving ischemic stroke.