The acupuncture effect on mitochondria of experimental psoriasis.
Authors: Da Silva Germano Jorge Maria Lucia , Pawloski Priscila Lucia , Jorge Luciana 
Published: April 2020

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammation with alteration in keratinocyte proliferation, where the inflammatory condition is established through activation of dendritic cells, effectors T cells generated and attracted to skin tissue and, epithelial cells. The ancient science, acupuncture, one of key of Tradicional Chinese Medicine, acts especially in the skin. The importance of T lymphocytes in the inflammatory process is well established, such as the participation of mitochondrial dynamics in the activity of these cells. Therefore, we chose to evaluate mitofusin‐2 ( MTF2) and acetyl Coa carboxylase (ACC) proteins in this process.

The aim of this study is to continue the evaluation of the effect of acupuncture on experimental psoriasis in mice, in this moment through the skin mitochondria.

The study used males Balb/C mice (20 – 30 g), randomly sorted into 5 groups: control (2), psoriasis induced by IMQ (5), psoriasis induced by IMQ treated with acupuncture(10), treated with acupuncture (5), psoriasis induced by IMQ treated with sham acupuncture (5) . The psoriasis was induced by Imiquimod (IMQ), received, on the shaved back, a dose of 62.5 mg of commercially available IMQ cream (5%) (Aldara; 3M Pharmaceuticals)during 15 days. It was adopted acupuncture of Tung’s method, 88.17, 88.18 and 88.19 points or point Yintang as Sham during 15 consecutive days, starting on day 3 of IMQ at animals which received acupuncture treatment. It was collected fragments of the hurt tissue for histological study and spleen, adrenal glands, axial and inguinal lymph nodes were weighed, immunohistochemistry by mitochondrial biogenesis. The blades were treated with Leishman stain, mft‐2 and pACC antibodies. Statistic tests ANOVA one way.

Treatment with IMQ caused a significant inflammatory process when compared to control, showing intense cellularity, mainly lymphocytes. The acupuncture application has reduced cell migration. In order to understand more deeply the influence of acupuncture on inflammatory skin disease, the pathway of mitochondrial biogenesis has been altered. The animals treated with acupuncture showed significative diference about mft‐2 presence when compared with group without treatment. In other hand, the acupuncture animals had very near results with only IMQ when ACC antibodies were .

Mitochondrial dynamics act on metabolic balance and T cell response, in this context mitochondrial protein mitofusin‐2 plays an important role in controlling cell proliferation and apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Thus, the cellular hyperproliferation observed in psoriasis may be a consequence of the destabilization of this protein. We observed that the treated animals suffered alteration in the expression of this protein when compared to the untreated ones.

The enzyme acetyl‐CoA carboxylase participates in the AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) cycle that regulates glucose metabolism. This leads to ATP generation and inhibition of ATP‐consuming events, such as fatty acid synthesis. Therefore, the presence of ACC may be a marker of cellular activity.

The results observed in the acupuncture treatment demonstrated the influence in the mitochondrial biogenesis and in the immune response, altering the cellular environment.

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Laboratory of Skin Pharmacology and Physiopathology

Comparing IMQ and ACP cellularity

Figure 1