Traditional Chinese Whole-Body Acupuncture Mobilizes CD133(+)CD34(−) Cells

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of traditional Chinese acupuncture for spinal cord lesions on the mobilization of stem cells. Therefore, 14 healthy study participants were acupunctured and gave blood samples before, immediately after as well as 24 and 48 hours after acupuncture. At these time points, the frequency of CD133, CD34, CD4, CD14, CD19 and CD45 positive cells were determined by flow cytometry. Furthermore, serum concentrations of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) 8 and 9, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), stroma-derived factor (SDF) 1 and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. CD133(+)34(−) cells were significantly increased 48 hours after acupuncture (29.1±5.8% versus 11.4±4.8%, p= 0.015), which was paralleled by significant decreases of BDNF (7.5±1 ng/ml versus 10.8±1.6 ng/ml, p= 0.013) and MMP-9 serum levels (46.4±2.6ng/ml versus 42.5±2.4 ng/ml, p= 0.009). Values in non-treated controls were not affected. No changes in SDF-1, NGF, interleukin-6 and G-CSF concentrations occurred. In conclusion, acupuncture does mobilize non-hematopoietic CD133(+) cells.