Electrical stimulation upregulates angiopoietin-1/Tie-2 mRNA expression in a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia

Angiopoietin 1/tyrosine kinase with immunoglobulin and epidermal growth factor homology domains 2 (Tie 2) is a newly discovered signaling pathway of angiogenesis Angiogenesis benefits recovery of neurological functions such as swallowing In the present study, a rat model of dysphagia following stroke was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion to investigate the influence of low frequency electrical stimulus with bidirectional square waves and triangular waves on angiopoietin 1/Tie 2 mRNA expression Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction results showed that low frequency electrical stimulus significantly improved the neurological scores of the model rats and increased angiopoietin 1/Tie 2 mRNA expression This demonstrates that low frequency electrical stimulation can ameliorate neurological function in rats with focal brain ischemia potentially through regulation of angiopoietin 1/Tie 2 expression in the angiogenesis pathway