Acupuncture therapy has been confirmed to be effective for the treatment of spinal cord injury (SCI) (Liu and Yi,2014) and electroacupuncture for SCI treatment has been widely accepted (He and Zhao,2014;Tong et al.,2016;Wang et al.,2016).In the present study,we observed the effects of pulsed electroacupuncture versus music electroacupuncture on locomotor function,neuronal apoptosis,and mash1 and neuroD expression in a rat SCI model.Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into pulsed electroacupuncture,music electroacupuncture,blank control,sham-operated and model groups (n =12 per group).SCI was induced by a modified Allens weight-drop method in all groups except the blank control group.For 21 days after injury,electroacupuncture at the Dazhui (DU14) and Mingmen (DU4) acupoints was performed daily for 20 minutes in the pulsed electroacupuncture and music electroacupuncture groups.Rat hindlimb locomotor distur-bance was observed in all groups using the Basso,Beattie and Bresnahan (BBB) locomotor scale score.In the model group,the BBB scores were significantly lower than those in the blank control and sham-operated groups.After treatment with pulsed electroacupuncture or music electroacupuncture,rat hindlimb locomotor ability was improved compared with that in the model groups.The BBB score in the music electroacupuncture group was significantly greater than that in the pulsed electroacupuncture group.TUNEL staining results revealed that the numbers of apoptotic cells in the injured spinal cord were significantly greater in the model group compared with those in the blank control and sham-operated groups,and the numbers of apoptotic cells in the pulsed electroacupuncture and music electroacupuncture groups were significantly lower than those in the model group.Western blot analysis showed that mash1 and neuroD expression in anterior horn neurons of the injured spinal cord was lower in the model group than that in the blank control and sham-operated groups,but there was no significant difference in mash1 and neuroD expression between pulsed electroacupuncture and music electroacupuncture groups.These results suggest that both pulsed electroacupuncture and music electroacupuncture can up regulate mash1 and neuroD expression in the anterior horn neurons of the injured spinal cord and may,thereby,inhibit cell apoptosis to a certain degree.This,potentially,contributes to recovery of locomotor function after SCI in rats.