<p style="text-align: center;">MIN Youjiang, CHENG Lihong, YAO Haihua, YANG Liu,MIN Zhiyun, PEI Jia</p><p style="text-align: center;">(Affiliated Hospital of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine,Nanchang, Jiangxi 330006, China)</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Abstract</strong>: <strong>Objective</strong>:&nbsp; To investigate the effect of Santong electroacupuncture (EA) on mRNA and protein expression of p75 neurotrophinreceptor (p75NTR) in rats with spinal cord injury (SCI).&nbsp; &nbsp;<strong>Methods</strong>: A total of 72 female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to&nbsp; sham operation group (group A, n=8) and model group (n=64). In the model group, Allen&#39;s method was used to make SCI rats model, in&nbsp; which 48 survived model rats were further subdivided into model control group (group B, n=12), EA group (group C, n=12), inhibitor Nogo&nbsp; extra cellular peptide residues&nbsp; 1-40 (NEP1-40) group (group D, n=12) and EA+inhibitor NEP1-40&nbsp; group&nbsp; (group&nbsp; E,&nbsp; n=12)&nbsp; according&nbsp; to&nbsp; design&nbsp; proposal.&nbsp; The&nbsp; treatment&nbsp; groups&nbsp; were electroacupunctured on Dazhui (GV14) and Yaoyangguan (GV3), bilateral Ciliao (BL32) and Zusanli(ST36) with loose-tight wave, for 20 minutes every day. After 7 and 14 days of treatment, injured spinal cord tissue was&nbsp; extracted&nbsp; for&nbsp; detecting.&nbsp; The&nbsp; mRNA&nbsp; and&nbsp; protein&nbsp; expression&nbsp; of&nbsp; p75NTR&nbsp; was&nbsp; detected&nbsp; by&nbsp; real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR, in situ hybridization and&nbsp; Western blotting respectively. The hind limb motor function was assessed with Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) score. Results:The BBB&nbsp; score increased in the treatment groups compared with group B, and was higher in group E than in groups C and D (P&lt;0.05), as well as on&nbsp; the 14th day than on the 7th day in all the treatment groups (t&gt;2.623, P&lt;0.05). The mRNA and protein&nbsp; expression&nbsp; of&nbsp; p75NTR&nbsp; in&nbsp; spinal&nbsp; cord&nbsp; tissues&nbsp; decreased&nbsp; in&nbsp; the&nbsp; treatment&nbsp; groups&nbsp; compared&nbsp; with group&nbsp; B&nbsp; (P&lt;0.05),&nbsp; and&nbsp; no&nbsp; significant&nbsp; difference&nbsp; was&nbsp; found&nbsp; among&nbsp; the&nbsp; treatment&nbsp; groups&nbsp; (P&gt;0.05).&nbsp;<strong>Conclusion</strong>: Santong elerctroacupuncture treatment could improve the hind limb motor function, which may associate with inhibition of the mRNA and protein expression of p75NTR in rats after SCI.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Key words</strong>:spinal cord injury , electroacupuncture,neural regeneration, p75 neurotrophin receptor , rats</p><p><br/></p>