Fig. 1

EA preconditioning reduced infarct size and improved neurological and motor function after focal cerebral ischemia. a A schematic diagram illustrating the chronological events of experiments. The mice received 20 min EA preconditioning once a day for three days prior to the ischemic event, after which focal cerebral ischemia was induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). b Mouse schematic showing the location of the acupuncture points used in the study. GV20 stands for ‘Baihui’, which is located at the right midpoint of the parietal bone. GV14 stands for ‘Dazhui’, which is located on the posterior midline and in the depression below the spinous process of the seventh cervical vertebra. c Representative photographs of coronal brain sections stained with 2,3,5-triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) in vehicle (Veh) and EA-preconditioned mice. White region indicates the infarct area. d-f Quantification of the infarct volume (d), neurological deficit (e) and motor function (f) were assessed 24 h after MCAO in a blinded fashion. Data are expressed as the means ± SEM (N = 7). *P < 0.05 compared with the vehicle group (Veh)