Electroacupuncture Ameliorates Tibial Fracture-Induced Cognitive Dysfunction by Elevating α7nAChR Expression and Suppressing Mast Cell Degranulation in the Hippocampus of Rats

Figure 1

The schematic diagram for experimental procedures. (a) EA pretreatment for consecutive 5 days and tibial fracture surgery 24 h after the last EA treatment; the rats were sacrificed after the Morris water maze test on day 1 and 3 postoperatively. (b) Rats in the α-BGT + EA + Op group received intracerebroventricular injection of α-BGT (0.5 µg/kg dissolved in saline 10 µl,203980, Sigma, USA) for 30 min before the onset of EA for 5 days; rats in the PHA-543613+Op group received intraperitoneal injection of PHA-543613 (1.0 mg/kg dissolved in saline 1 ml, PZ0135, Sigma, USA) once a day for 5 days [22]. Rats were sacrificed after the Morris water maze test on day 1 and 3 postoperatively.