Mimicking Ding's Roll Method on Notexin-Induced Muscle Injury in Rats

Summary

This protocol describes a simple device that mimics Ding's roll method, establishes a rat model of skeletal muscle injury, and uses hematoxylin-eosin staining to observe the pathology of damaged tissue and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect changes in serum damage markers.

Abstract

Ding's roll method is one of the most commonly used manipulations in traditional Chinese massage (Tuina) clinics and one of the most influential contemporary Tuina manipulations in China. It is based on the traditional rolling method commonly used in the one finger Zen genre and named Ding's roll method. Due to its anti-inflammatory and blood circulation-promoting effects, Ding's rolling method has sound therapeutic effects on myopathy. Because of the large area of force applied to human skin, Ding's roll method is challenging to perform on experimental animals with small skin areas, such as rats and rabbits. Additionally, the strength of Tuina applied to the human body differs from that applied to experimental animals, so it may happen that the strength is too high or too low to achieve the therapeutic effect of Tuina during the experiment. This experiment aims to create a simple massager suitable for rats based on Ding's rolling manipulation parameters (strength, frequency, Tuina duration). The device can standardize manipulation in animal experiments and reduce the variation in Tuina force applied to different animals due to subjective factors. A rat model of notexin-induced skeletal muscle injury was established, and plasma injury markers creatine kinase (CK) and fatty acid binding protein 3 (FABP3) were used to assess the therapeutic effect of Tuina on skeletal muscle injury. The results showed that this Tuina massager could reduce the levels of CK and FABP3 expression and slow down the degree of skeletal muscle injury. Therefore, the Tuina massager described here, mimicking Ding's roll method, contributes to standardizing Tuina manipulation in experimental research and is of great help for subsequent research on the molecular mechanism of Tuina for myopathy.

Introduction

Muscle injuries are common traumatic injuries in clinical and daily life, caused by external blows (contusions) or chronic overstrain of muscle fibers (strains), etc., resulting in muscle dysfunction and pain, even seriously affecting the patient's quality of life¹. Starting rehabilitation as early as possible after an acute strain injury is the key to reducing the time to return to sports² and in reducing pain^3,4. In modern Western medicine, clinical first aid for muscle injuries follows the principles of rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE) to ....

Protocol

Procedures involving animals have been approved by the Institutional Care and Use Committee at Hunan University of Chinese Medicine.

1. Assembly of the rolling massager

1. Select a massager that consists of a rubber roller, fork holder, spring, limit baffle, adjustment splint, screw, and acrylic handle (Figure 1). Ensure the rubber roller measures 3 cm long and 1.6 cm in diameter, the spring measures 3 cm long and 0.9 cm in diameter, the .......

Discussion

Here, we described a protocol for Tuina treatment of skeletal muscle injury in rats and then analyzed the degree of skeletal muscle injury after treatment to verify the effectiveness of the method. Notably, rat skeletal muscle injury models, including but not limited to drug induction (notexin, bupivacaine)¹⁶, blunt contusion²⁶, crush²⁷, and ischemia-reperfusion²⁸, can be intervened with Tuina. Through HE staining to observe t.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
1 mL syringe	JIANGXI FENGLIN	20220521
1.5 microtubes	Servicebio	EP-150X-J
15 mL centrifuge tube	Servicebio	EP-1501-J
30G needle	CONPUVON	220318
5 mL blood collection tube	Servicebio	QX0023
Acrylic handle	Guangdong Guangxingwang Plastic Materials Co., Ltd	65643645
Adjustment splint	CREROMEM	20220729
Cotton Swab	INOHV	22080215
Enzyme-labeled Instrument	Rayto	RT-6100
Ethanol	INOHV	211106
Fork holder	Yongkang Kangzhe Health Technology Co., Ltd	JL001
Hair removal cream	Veet, France	LOTC190922002
Hematoxylin dyeing solution set	Wuhan Google Biotech	G1005
Imaging system	Nikon, Japan	Nikon DS-U3
IODOPHOR disfecting solution	Hale&Hearty	20221205
Light microscope	Nikon, Japan	Nikon Eclipse E100
Limit baffle	CREROMEM	20220724
Notexin	Latoxan S.A.S.	L8104-100UG
Pentobarbital sodium	Merck KGaA	P3761
Rat creatine kinase (CK) ELISA kit	LunChangShuoBiotech	YD-35237
Rat fatty acid-binding protein 3 (FABP3) ELISA kit	LunChangShuoBiotech	YD-35730
Rubber roller	Hebei Mgkui Chemical Technology Co.,Ltd	202207
Screw	Weiyan Hardware	B05Z122
Sprague Dawley rats	Hunan Slake Kingda Laboratory Animal Co.	SYXK2019-0009
Spring	Bingzhang Hardware	TH001
Surgical blade	Covetrus	#23
Weigh controller	Iyoys	HY-XSQ