Acupuncture Treatment Research Articles

Microneedle biosensor for real-time monitoring of hydrogen sulfide release from paraventricular nucleus of hypertension rats stimulated by electroacupuncture.

Comparative efficacy of acupuncture-related interventions for perimenopausal depression and anxiety: A systematic review and frequentist meta-analysis.

Clinical evidence for acupuncture-assisted treatment of depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis with meta-regression.

The Relationship between the Treatment Frequency and Efficacy of Acupuncture: A Scoping Review of Clinical Trials.

Acupuncture and herbal medicine have traditionally been used in East Asia for cancer care. This study aimed to explore how acupuncture and herbal medicine in cancer treatment is used in Europe to identify the common cancer types treated, therapeutic methods applied, and patient satisfaction. This scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guideline and Arksey and O’Malley’s methodological framework. Literature searches were conducted using electronic databases and 2 complementary and alternative medicine-focused journals. The inclusion criteria included first author’s affiliation in Europe and use of acupuncture or herbal medicine in cancer treatment. The exclusion criteria included focusing solely on chemotherapy-related adverse effects or in vitro research. From 6,109 initial records, 6 studies met the inclusion criteria. Two studies involved acupuncture, and 4 involved herbal medicine. Breast cancer was the most frequently studied and ST36 was the most frequently used acupuncture point. Herbal medicines included mistletoe extract and Ruta graveolens. Reported outcomes included symptom relief and generally positivity, although findings varied. This scoping review identified a limited but emerging body of cancer research on the use of acupuncture and herbal medicine in Europe. Highquality clinical research is needed.

Osteoarthritis Year in Review 2025: Rehabilitation and outcomes including sex and gender reporting.

To observe the efficacy of heat-reinforcing acupuncture at "Zusanli" (ST36) in rabbits with cold-dampness rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its impact on mitochondrial quality and the dynamin-related protein 1 (Drp1)/mitochondrial fission factor (Mff) pathway in knee synovial tissue. Twenty-four New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group, a heat-reinforcing acupuncture group, and an inhibitor group, with 6 rabbits in each group. A cold-dampness RA rabbit model was established using complete Freund's adjuvant-ovalbumin mixture combined with an artificial climate chamber. Rabbits of the heat-reinforcing acupuncture group received heat-reinforcing acupuncture at ST36 once daily for 14 d. Rabbits of the inhibitor group was intraperitoneally injected with the mitochondrial division inhibitor Mdivi-1 (2.5 mg/kg) once every 2 d for a total of 7 times. Rabbits of the normal and model groups were handled and restrained in the same manner but received no other interventions. Knee arthritis scores, mechanical pain thresholds, and joint circumference were assessed after modeling and intervention. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to observe pathological changes in knee synovial tissue. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the ultrastructure of mitochondria in synovial cells. Luciferase method was used to measure ATP content in knee synovial tissue. Immunofluorescence staining was used to detect mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (mtROS) expression and Drp1/Mff co-localization in synovial tissue, and Western blot was used to measure the relative expression levels of phosphorylated(p)-Drp1 s616/Drp1 and Mff protein. Compared with the normal group, the model group showed increased arthritis scores, joint circumference, mtROS expression, p-Drp1 s616/Drp1 and Mff protein expression, and Drp1/Mff co-localization in knee synovial tissue(P<0.01), while mechanical pain thresholds and ATP content in synovial tissue were significantly decreased (P<0.01). Following acupuncture intervention, compared with the model group, the heat-reinforcing acupuncture group and the inhibitor group showed significantly reduced arthritis scores, joint circumference, mtROS expression , p-Drp1 s616/Drp1 and Mff protein expression, and Drp1/Mff co-localization in synovial tissue(P<0.01), while mechanical pain thresholds and ATP content in synovial tissue were significantly increased (P<0.01). In the model group, synovial tissue showed significant synovial cell proliferation, with visible inflammatory cell infiltration and synovial matrix proliferation in the synovium;synovial cells had indistinct mitochondrial cristae, mitochondrial swelling/rupture, and mitochondrial fragmentation into small bodies. These changes in synovial tissue were alleviated in both the heat-reinforcing acupuncture group and the inhibitor group. Heat-reinforcing acupuncture can significantly improve symptoms in RA rabbits with cold-dampness and enhance mitochondrial quality in synovial cells, which may be related to the inhibition of Drp1/Mff pathway activity.

Depression, a non-motor symptom, frequently occurs alongside Parkinson's disease (PD), which is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder among middle-aged and elderly individuals. Its treatment necessitates balancing the alleviation of depressive symptoms against the risk of worsening motor symptoms. Conventional antidepressants exhibit limited efficacy, are prone to inducing adverse reactions, and further exacerbate issues such as diminished patient quality of life and increased caregiving burden. In-depth exploration of the pathological mechanisms of depression in Parkinson's Disease (PDD) and optimization of diagnosis and treatment strategies are of great significance. This article reviews the pathological mechanisms (abnormal neurotransmission, inflammation), clinical treatments (pharmacological treatment, TCM acupuncture, non-pharmacological combined treatment) and future research directions, which highlight the advantages of acupuncture and multi-method combined treatment. At present, some therapies in this field lack verification through large-sample studies. In the future, more studies need to be conducted to clarify the mechanisms, verify the efficacy and optimize the schemes, so as to provide references for clinical practice and scientific research of PDD.

IntroductionSarcopenia is a prevalent skeletal muscle disorder among older adults that can significantly diminish their quality of life. While acupuncture is gaining traction as a treatment for various skeletal muscle disorders, there is currently insufficient evidence supporting its efficacy specifically for sarcopenia. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture interventions for sarcopenia.Methods and analysisA comprehensive search will be conducted across eight databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, China Biology Medicine disc, China Science and Technology Journal Database and Wanfang Database) from their inception until December 31, 2025. Additionally, clinical trial registries and other relevant sources will be searched. All randomised controlled trials (RCTs) related to acupuncture treatment for sarcopenia will be included. Data extraction will encompass study details, design, participant demographics, intervention specifics, outcome measures and reported adverse events. The primary outcomes of interest will be muscle strength, muscle mass and physical performance. The risk of bias will be evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 (RoB 2) tool. The study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment will be independently carried out by two reviewers. A meta-analysis will be performed using RevMan V.5.4 and STATA V.16.0, while descriptive analyses will be conducted as necessary. The certainty of evidence for the outcomes will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required since the data for this study were obtained from public databases. The findings will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal.PROSPERO registration numberCRD420251067492.

IntroductionAcupuncture can effectively improve the clinical symptoms of intractable facial paralysis (IFP). However, it is not yet clear whether the use of acupuncture manipulation affects the therapeutic effect. This study aims to conduct a preliminary exploration of the clinical efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment for IFP using acupuncture manipulation.MethodsA single-center, single-blind, randomized controlled pilot trial was conducted from December 2022 to December 2023, involving 40 IFP participants, divided into the ordinary acupuncture group (OAG, n = 20) and the characteristic acupuncture group (CAG, n = 20). The OAG underwent a standardized acupuncture protocol comprising 3 weekly sessions over a 10-week period. This structured regimen included 3 consecutive treatment cycles (10 sessions/cycle), culminating in 30 total therapeutic interventions. The CAG has performed characteristic acupuncture manipulation on this basis, with the same frequency and duration of treatment as the OAG. Assess the patient’s facial recovery status at baseline and after 10, 20, and 30 treatments.ResultsAfter the second treatment course, the difference in the Anzhong Facial Paralysis Precision Scale (Oral Commissure Ptosis Grading Scale) levels between the two groups began to show statistical significance (p < 0.05); After the third treatment course, the scores changes in Sunnybrook Facial Grading System (SFGS) scale between the two groups began to show statistical significance (p < 0.05); After the first treatment course, there was statistical significance in the average ratio changes at LI20 (Yingxiang) and ST4 (Dicang) between the two groups (p < 0.05). After the second treatment course, statistical significance in the average ratio changes was observed at GB14 (Yangbai), SI18 (Quanliao), LI20 (Yingxiang), and ST4 (Dicang) between the two groups (p < 0.05). After the third treatment course, statistical significance in the average ratio changes was found at all acupoints between the two groups (p < 0.05). Consequently, the CAG group demonstrated superior therapeutic efficacy compared to the OAG group.ConclusionAcupuncture has a good therapeutic effect on IFP, and the combination of characteristic acupuncture manipulation has a better therapeutic effect. However, these conclusions require further validation in larger clinical studies.Clinical trial registrationhttps://www.chictr.org.cn/, Identifier ChiCTR2200065442.

Acupuncture is acknowledged for its safety and effectiveness in the process of frozen embryo transfer (FET) to improve pregnancy outcomes. The study aimed to develop a clinical prediction model to predict the probability of clinical pregnancy after acupuncture treatment during FET and to identify the most predictive characteristics. Two clinical trials on acupuncture treatment during FET containing a total of 390 patients (315 in Trial 1 and 75 in Trial 2) were involved for data training. Eighty baseline clinical characteristics were collected from patients in Trial 1, and the support vector classification (SVC) model was created to predict the improvement of FET clinical pregnancy by acupuncture. Trial 1 was utilized as the internal validation set (divided into internal test and validation sets in a 7:3 ratio), whereas Trial 2 was used as the external validation set to assess the external generalizability of this clinical prediction model. In Trial 1, the prediction model achieved an accuracy of 0.778, a precision of 0.821, a recall score of 0.807, an f1 score of 0.814, and an AUC of 0.772 in predicting the acupuncture response. The in-hospital cycle, vascularized flow index, and transferred embryo number were the essential predictive features identified by the SVC model. For Trial 2, an accuracy of 0.74, a precision of 0.625, a recall score of 0.625, an f1 score of 0.625, an AUC of 0.713 were shown in the LSVC model. The clinical prediction model constructed through this study may help physicians determine in advance how patients will respond to acupuncture before FET and provide accurate treatment plans for acupuncture.

A case of Meige syndrome treated by acupuncture was reported. The main symptoms of this patient were involuntary and persistent twitching of muscles around the eyes, lips and jaws. The syndrome belongs to hyperactivity of liver yang. The treatment is dispelling wind and dredging collaterals, soothing liver and relieving spasm. Acupuncture treatment was given at bilateral Dadun (LR1), Sanjian (LI3), Shaoshang (LU11), Zulinqi (GB41), Yuyao (EX-HN4), Sibai (ST2), Jiachengjiang (Extra), Fengchi (GB20), Yifeng (TE17), once every other day. After 10 times of treatment, the twitching frequency of facial muscles decreased significantly, and basically did not twitch without emotional fluctuations; the acupuncture treatment was changed to once a week, and the consolidation treatment was 4 times. After 1 month of follow-up, there was no twitching of facial muscles.

After being treated with acupuncture, some patients with idiopathic tinnitus may experience a short-term aggravation of tinnitus symptoms on the original basis. These symptoms can be gradually relieved and the overall condition fluctuates towards recovery. This phenomenon has brought some difficulties to patients and clinicians. Based on the academic view of TCM, "destroying pathogens and re-building balance", and in association with the existing understanding of acupuncture in modern medicine for tinnitus, this paper briefly discusses the mechanism and influencing factors of symptom fluctuation in patients with idiopathic tinnitus after acupuncture treatment in terms of both TCM and modern medicine, and proposes the future direction in the research of symptom fluctuation, so as to promote the recognition of clinicians and patients on symptom fluctuation and make rational use of its positive effects. Besides, it is hoped that more researchers will pay attention to symptom fluctuation and advance the exploration of it in academic field.

Through collecting the existing clinical evidences on acupuncture and moxibustion for urticaria, the distribution of evidence in this field was mapped. A systematic search of Chinese and English literature was conducted in CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, SinoMed, PubMed, EMbase, and Cochrane Library for treatment of urticaria with acupuncture and moxibustion, published up to December 31, 2023 since inception of each database. The research status in this field was summarized using an evidence mapping approach, and methodological quality was assessed. A total of 323 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 22 systematic reviews were included. The number of studies on acupuncture and moxibustion for urticaria has been increasing, with a significant rise in recent years. In most RCTs, the study scale was small, and the subjects focused on chronic spontaneous urticaria in adolescents and middle-aged adults, aged 14 to 60 years. Regarding the intervention measures, the single therapy of acupuncture and moxibustion was predominant such as acupoint injection, acupoint embedding thread, and filiform needling. In acupuncture with filiform needles, the commonly used acupoints were Quchi (LI11), Xuehai (SP10), Sanyinjiao (SP6), Zusanli (ST36) and Hegu (LI4). The main outcome measures referred to effectiveness rate, score of disease severity, recurrence rate, laboratory indexes, and score of quality of life; and the short-term effect was evaluated specifically. The overall methodological quality of the included studies was relatively low. It is suggested that the future research should focus on large-scale, multi-center, high-quality clinical trials, optimize the protocols for acupuncture and moxibustion intervention, standardize the outcomes, and draw the attention to the evaluation of long-term efficacy, so as to provide clinical evidences of high certainty for urticaria treated with acupuncture and moxibustion.

Systematic reviews on acupuncture for obesity report conflicting findings, and the certainty of this evidence remains unclear. This umbrella review appraises the evidence to identify which effects on body mass index (BMI) and body weight (BW) are supported by high-quality findings. We conducted an umbrella review by systematically searching PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library through April 28, 2025 to obtain systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials evaluating acupuncture interventions for obesity. Two reviewers independently assessed methodological quality using a measurement tool to assess systematic reviews (AMSTAR) and evidence quality using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE). We identified best evidence from high-quality systematic reviews with high or moderate GRADE ratings. Our analysis included 22 systematic reviews encompassing 60 meta-analyses. Seventeen reviews (77.3%) achieved high methodological quality ratings according to AMSTAR criteria. Five meta-analyses provided high-quality evidence consistently demonstrating significant benefits of acupuncture interventions. The strongest evidence supported acupuncture combined with lifestyle interventions compared to lifestyle interventions alone for both BMI and BW outcomes. Additional high-quality evidence demonstrated significant benefits for acupuncture versus no treatment and versus sham acupuncture. Fourteen meta-analyses provided moderate-quality evidence confirming acupuncture effectiveness, with no significant differences between acupuncture and pharmaceutical treatments. Based on high-quality evidence, clinicians can recommend acupuncture to patients with obesity, particularly as adjunctive therapy to lifestyle interventions. For patients unable to tolerate pharmacological treatments, acupuncture represents a reasonable alternative. However, optimal benefits require integration with comprehensive lifestyle modifications rather than standalone use.

Real-time dynamic monitoring of acupuncture effects is crucial for elucidating its biological mechanisms, yet traditional histological methods fail to capture transient responses in the live microenvironment. Here, we established a methodological framework based on in vivo laser confocal imaging, enabling high-resolution, real-time observation of morphological changes in local tissues following acupuncture intervention. After intravenous injection of sodium fluorescein in rats, dynamic alterations in microcirculation and extracellular matrix (e.g., collagen fiber arrangement) were tracked during acupuncture. The results demonstrated that this method clearly distinguished immediate (e.g., vasodilation) and delayed (e.g., inflammatory response) tissue reactions induced by acupuncture, with a spatial resolution of 0.5 µm and a temporal resolution of 3.5 fps. Subsequent quantitative analysis enabled objective measurement of morphological parameters. This protocol, described in this study, provides a visualization tool for in vivo studies of acupuncture mechanisms and serves as a technical reference for evaluating the effects of other physical stimuli (e.g., moxibustion).

Early acupuncture intervention for pain relief in emergency department patients with suspected acute renal colic caused by urinary calculi: a randomized clinical trial- Correspondence.

The "Skin-Brain Axis" hypothesis posits that the skin contains a dense network of nerve endings, neurotransmitters, and neuropeptide receptors capable of detecting tissue damage with high precision and relaying signals to the brain through sensory neurons. Research indicates that therapies involving body surface stimulation, such as acupuncture, modulate brain function. However, there is a paucity of reviews detailing the mechanisms or pathways underlying these therapeutic interventions. This review digs into the neurobiological substrates of acupuncture's efficacy, focusing on three pivotal components: the activation of skin at acupoints, the conduction of peripheral nerve signals, and the subsequent central nervous system responses.

BackgroundRheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease that requires multitarget therapeutic strategies. Acupuncture, an integrative therapy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), has shown efficacy in the clinical treatment of RA, but its molecular mechanisms remain unclear.PurposeThis study systematically elucidated the holistic regulatory effects of acupuncture on RA by integrating network topology with machine learning approaches.MethodsData on the interactions between acupuncture-affected endogenous compounds and RA-related targets were extracted from databases, and a multidimensional interaction network was constructed to map the interactions between acupuncture and RA. screened RA-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from the GEOdatabase that intersected with acupuncture-responsive genes. The clusterProfiler was used for KEGG/GO enrichment analysis of these DEGs, and the immune microenvironment was analyzed via the CIBERSORTx and xCell algorithms. ConsensusClusterPlus (R package) was used for unsupervised clustering to obtain DEGs. Subsequently, key genes were identified via an ensemble machine learning model (GLM/SVM/XGB/RF), and nomograms were created. Two-sample MR and colocalization analyses were applied to validate the causal relationship between core acupuncture-affected DEGs and RA risk.ResultsThis study identified 10 acupuncture-regulated endogenous compounds and 49 RA-related DEGs. KEGG analysis revealed that the DEGs enriched in immune pathways included the JAK/STAT pathway, which mediates inflammatory responses, the T-cell receptor signaling pathway, which is involved in T-cell differentiation, and the TNF signaling pathway. Immunome profiling via the CIBERSORT algorithm revealed that the DEGs were enriched primarily in key immune cell subpopulations, such as M1 macrophages, activated CD4⁺ T cells, Tregs, and B lymphocytes. Machine learning identified five key genes associated with immune infiltration (STAT1, GAPDH, JAK2, PTGS2, and MDM2). MR/colocalization confirmed that acupuncture-regulated STAT1 expression was positively correlated with RA genetic susceptibility, highlighting that the STAT1-mediated JAK/STAT pathway is involved in immune remodeling.ConclusionSTAT1, GAPDH, JAK2, PTGS2, and MDM2 may be potential targets for the acupuncture treatment of RA. Acupuncture may achieve systemic immune regulation by synergistically targeting multiple pathways (JAK/STAT, TNF) and immune cells (M1 macrophages, CD4+ T cells). This initiative integrates the holistic philosophy of TCM with the precision of AI-driven medical science.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13020-025-01209-8.

The prevalence of depression is as high as about 30% within five years after stroke, while there is still no breakthrough in the Western medical treatments for post-stroke depression (PSD) in clinical practice. The traditional acupuncture treatment has been practiced to be effective for the therapy of PSD, but its mechanism still needs to be elucidated. With a combination of methods, including behavioral testing, immunofluorescence, in vivo electrophysiological recording, mRNA sequencing, genetic modulation, and in vivo fiber recording techniques, this study showed that electroacupuncture (EA) at Baihui (GV20) and Shenting (GV24) acupoints improved the depressive-like behaviors and neuronal electrophysiological activities in PSD model mice, which was established by bilateral injection of collagenase IV into the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Moreover, it was found that the EA-mediated improvement was comparable to that of fluoxetine. The mRNA sequence analysis indicated that the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) system was involved in the pathogenesis of PSD. Meanwhile, the number of 5-HT positive neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) and 5-HT in the mPFC was significantly decreased, and ablation of neurons in the DRN could prevent the efficacy of EA. The neuronal activity of excitatory and inhibitory neurons in mPFC can be modulated by chemogenetic activation or inhibition of the TPH2-positive neurons in the DRN projecting to the mPFC. Together, our results have provided the insight of the biological mechanism underlying acupuncture in the treatment of PSD and revealed the scientific connotation of acupuncture in both clinical and scientific value.