Abstract
Objective To collect and summarize relevant literatures on the experimental researches of sciatic nerve injury (SNI) with acupuncture during the last decade providing a guideline for effectively treating SNI with acupuncture in the future. Methods The Chinese and English databases including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform (WanFang Data), VIP Information Chinese Journal Service Platform (VIP Date), and PubMed were searched from 2009 to 2020 with keywords of “acupuncture and moxibustion OR acupuncture OR electroacupuncture OR scalp acupuncture OR wrist-ankle acupuncture OR acupoint injection OR ear acupuncture” AND “sciatic nerve OR sciatic nerve injury OR sciatic injury OR SNI.” The collected data were mainly evaluated in the items of animal model of SNI, type of interventions, selection of acupuncture points (acupoints), course of treatment and its frequency, and approaches of assessment. Results A total of 89 studies were included in this analysis. Among them, the most commonly used animal models of SNI were produced by the clamp or transverse injury in the rats; the most frequently used intervention was electroacupuncture with dilatational wave of 2/100 Hz; the frequency of acupuncture was mainly performed once per day lasting for more than 2 weeks; the mainly selected acupoints were Huantiao (GB30), Zusanli (ST36), and Yanglingquan (GB34); and the approaches of assessment were contained with behavioral, functional, morphological, histological, cellular, and molecular measurements. Conclusion The results indicated that the experimental researches of SNI with acupuncture has made marked progress in recent years, which may provide important clues for further investigating the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture for the treatment of SNI in the future.
Highlights
Sciatic nerve injury (SNI), as a typical type of peripheral nerve injury, is a common disorder to meet the acupuncture treatment [1,2,3,4]
Taking “acupuncture and moxibustion OR acupuncture OR electroacupuncture OR scalp acupuncture OR wrist-ankle acupuncture OR ear acupuncture OR acupoint injection” AND “sciatic nerve OR sciatic nerve injury OR sciatic injury OR SNI” as the keywords searched for the literature related to acupuncture intervention for SNI on the Chinese and English databases, including China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI, 2009–2020), Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform (WanFang Data, 2009–2020), VIP Information Chinese Journal Service Platform (VIP Date, 2009–2020), and PubMed (2009–2020)
Study Selection. rough electronic searching, 10795, 13746, and 8562 records in Chinese were identified from CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP Date databases, respectively, and 166 records in English were found from PubMed
Summary
Sciatic nerve injury (SNI), as a typical type of peripheral nerve injury, is a common disorder to meet the acupuncture treatment [1,2,3,4]. SNI is not lethal, it can cause long-term functional deficits in patients [8, 9]. All of them had certain curative effects on the SNI, considering their side effects and relatively high costs, some of the patients accepted acupuncture as a complementary or alternative choice and obtained satisfied effects from treatment [12,13,14]. The underlying mechanism of acupuncture for meliorating SNI still remains unclear
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