We have previously reported that the expression of miR-34c-5p was up-regulated during acupuncture treatment in the setting of a cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury (CIRI), indicating that miR-34c-5p plays an important role in healing from a CIRI-induced brain injury. This study sought to evaluate the effects of acupuncture on miR-34c-5p expression and autophagy in the forward and reverse directions using a rat focal cerebral ischemia/reperfusion model. After 120 minutes of middle cerebral artery occlusion and reperfusion, rats were treated with acupuncture at the "Dazhui" (DU20), "Baihui" (DU26) and "Renzhong" (DU14) points. Neurologic function deficit score, cerebral infarct area ratio, neuronal apoptosis and miR-34c-5p expression were evaluated 72 hr after treatment. The autophagy agonist RAPA and the antagonist 3MA were used to evaluate the neuro protective effects of autophagy-mediated acupuncture. We found that acupuncture treatment improved autophagy in the brain tissue of CIRI rats. Acupuncture reversed the negative effects of 3MA on CIRI, and acupuncture combined with RAPA further enhanced autophagy. We also found that acupuncture could increase miR-34c-5p expression in hippocampal neurons after ischemia/reperfusion. Acupuncture and a miR-34c agomir were able to enhance autophagy, improve neurologic deficits, and reduce the cerebral infarct area ratio and apoptosis rate by promoting the expression of miR-34c-5p. Silencing miR-34c resulted in a significantly reduced activating effect of acupuncture on autophagy and increased apoptosis, neurologic deficit symptoms, and cerebral infarct area ratio. This confirms that acupuncture can upregulate miR-34c-5p expression, which is beneficial in the treatment of CIRI.
Lung cancer is prone to bone metastasis, and osteopontin (OPN) has an important significance in maintaining bone homeostasis. The goal of this study was to explore the impact of OPN level on bone metabolism and the molecular mechanism of inhibiting bone metastasis in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The expression of OPN in NSCLC was ascertained by Western blot and immunohistochemistry, and the correlation between the expression level of OPN and survival of patients was analyzed. Then the shRNA technology was applied to reduce the expression of OPN in NSCLC cells, and CCK-8 assay was carried out to investigate the effect of low expression of OPN on the proliferation of NSCLC cells. In addition, the effects of low expression of OPN on osteoclast differentiation, osteoblast generation and mineralization were studied using osteoclast precursor RAW264.7 and human osteoblast SaOS-2 cells, and whether OPN could regulate miR-34c/ Notch pathway to affect bone metabolism was further explored. The findings showed that the high level of OPN in NSCLC was closely related to the poor prognosis of patients and the abnormal proliferation of NSCLC cell lines. The suppression of OPN was beneficial to inhibit the differentiation of osteoclasts and promote the mineralization of osteoblasts. Besides, this study confirmed that the deletion of OPN can regulate bone metabolism through the regulation of miR-34c/Notch1 pathway, which will contribute to inhibiting the occurrence of osteolytic bone metastasis in NSCLC.