Abstract: Objective To observe the effect of transcranial low frequency electrical stimulation on the contents of monoamines in ischemic area of rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO).MethodsPermanent MCAO model of Wistar rat was established with silk thread enveloped with polyammoniacum.The ischemic areas received various intensity of transcranial low frequency electrical stimulation for 1 hour in rats underwent 1 hour of ischemia.Then the affected tissue was processed with fluorospectrophotometry to determine the contents of dopamine(DA),noradrenalin(NE) and 5-hydroxytryptamine(5-HT).ResultsCompared with the sham-operation group,the contents of DA,NE and 5-HT in ischemic area of MCAO model rats decreased obviously(all P<0.01),while all three monoamines investigated in the sham-operation group with transcranial low frequency electrical stimulation had no significant change.In the MCAO groups stimulating with lower(10 V) and middle(30 V) intensity transcranial low frequency electrical field,the contents of DA,NE and 5-HT in ischemic area had no significant increase.But in the MCAO group stimulating with high(50 V) intensity transcranial low frequency electrical field,the contents of DA,NE and 5-HT in ischemic area increased significantly(P<0.05).ConclusionSome degree of intensity transcranial low frequency electrical field stimulation can increase the contents of DA,NE and 5-HT in ischemic area of rats subjected to MCAO.

Key words: transcranial low frequency electrical stimulation, middle cerebral artery occlusion, monoamine