To investigate the mechanism of eye acupuncture in acute ischemic stroke based on transcriptome sequencing.

Thirty-two patients with acute ischemic stroke who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled and divided into a control group and an eye acupuncture group. The neurological function scores before and after the intervention were observed. Peripheral venous blood of the patients after treatment was collected and subjected to transcriptome sequencing. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained through comparison, and Gene Ontology (GO) functional annotation, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis were carried out.

Based on standardized internal medical treatment, the administration of eye acupuncture treatment could significantly improve the neurological deficit symptoms of the patients. Comparison of the transcriptome sequencing results revealed 501 differentially expressed genes, among which 175 genes were upregulated and 326 genes were downregulated in the eye acupuncture group. GO analysis showed that the functions of the differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in aspects such as the production of molecular mediators to mediate the immune response, the cellular response to interleukin-1, the generation of fever, the response to chemokines and the cellular response to chemokines. KEGG analysis indicated that the differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in the signaling pathways involving inflammation, immunity and apoptosis. PPI analysis revealed that tumor necrosis factor (TNF), interleukin 1A (IL1A) and chemokine 2 (CCL2) could serve as key genes.

The regulation of the inflammatory immune response and apoptosis may be a crucial mechanism for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke by eye acupuncture.