Progress of researches on anti-inflammatory mechanism of acupuncture underlying amelioration of chronic respiratory diseases

Abstract

In recent years, acupuncture has gained great progress in the treatment of chronic respiratory diseases (CRD), and the clinical effect is remarkable, but its underlying mechanisms are relatively complex, with the anti-inflammatory effect being the primary aspect. Based on the literature both at home and abroad, we found that the anti-inflammatory mechanism of acupuncture mainly involves chemokines, kinase-related pathways, helper T cells, epigenetic modification, autophagy, vagal-mediated cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, etc. The researches on some anti-inflammatory mechanisms are still in the initial stage, the relationship among various pathways, and the key factors affecting the effect of acupuncture, such as acupoint selection, stimulation intensity and needling depth, etc. warrant further exploration in the future.