Electroacupuncture pretreatment alleviates myocardial ischemia/reperfusion-induced lung injury by inhibiting the expression of HMGB1/RAGE in male rats.

Myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (MI/R)-induced lung injury is a major pulmonary complication after cardiac surgery. We aimed to verify this phenomenon in rats and to investigate whether electroacupuncture (EA) pretreatment at bilateral Feishu (BL13) and Zusanli (ST36) acupoints (once daily for 3 days) exerts protective effects. In an MI/R-induced lung injury model in SD rats, EA pretreatment significantly improved lung function and reduced pathological damage (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). It also attenuated the pulmonary inflammatory response and decreased the expression of high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) and receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). Intratracheal administration of recombinant HMGB1 (rHMGB1) to upregulate lung HMGB1/RAGE signaling impaired the pulmonary protective effect of EA (p < 0.05, p < 0.01). Together, these findings demonstrate that EA pretreatment mitigates MI/R-induced lung injury by inhibiting HMGB1/RAGE signaling.