TITLE:
Effect of Blade Needle Stimulation on the Expression of MyoD and HGF Proteins in Rats with Lumbar Multifidus Muscle Injury
AUTHORS:
Senming Xu, Xiaolan Li, Xingle Qin, Minli Jiang
KEYWORDS:
Multifidus Muscle Injury, Myogenic Differentiation Protein, Hepatocyte Growth Factor, Acusector, Blade Needle Stimulation
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.14 No.9,
September
23,
2026
ABSTRACT: Objective: This paper aims to observe the effects of blade needle stimulation (BNS) therapy on the expression levels of myogenic differentiation antigen (MyoD) and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) in the multifidus muscle of rats with lumbar multifidus muscle injury, and to explore the potential molecular mechanisms by which BNS therapy promotes skeletal muscle injury repair. Methods: Forty male SD rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a control group, a model group, an acusector group, and a BNS group, with 8 rats in each group. Except for the normal group, the lumbar multifidus muscle injury model was established by injecting 0.5% bupivacaine into the multifidus muscle, while the control group received an equal volume of normal saline. After modeling, the normal group, control group, and model group were only subjected to equal handling without any intervention. The acusector group received acusector treatment at the injured site starting from day 1 after modeling, once daily for 30 minutes each session. The BNS group received BNS at the same site on days 1 and 4 after modeling. The protein levels of MyoD and HGF in the multifidus muscle of rats in each group were measured by ELISA on days 4 and 8 after modeling, respectively. Results: On day 8 after modeling, there were statistically significant differences in the expression levels of MyoD and HGF among all groups (P 0.05). The expression level of HGF in the BNS group was significantly higher than those in the model group and the acusector group (P 0.05). Conclusion: Both acusector and BNS therapy can effectively inhibit the downregulation of MyoD expression following lumbar multifidus muscle injury. Additionally, BNS significantly elevates HGF expression levels, demonstrating a distinct molecular regulatory advantage over acusector.