The analgesic effect of acupuncture in neuropathic pain: regulatory mechanisms of DNA methylation in the brain.

Recent research has demonstrated that chronic pain, resulting from peripheral nerve injury, leads to various symptoms, including not only allodynia and hyperalgesia but also anxiety, depression, and cognitive impairment. These symptoms are believed to arise due to alterations in gene expression and neural function, mediated by epigenetic changes in chromatin structure. Emerging evidence suggests that acupuncture can modulate DNA methylation within the central nervous system, contributing to pain relief and the mitigation of comorbidities.

Peripheral Rho-associated protein kinase activation mediates acupuncture analgesia.

Background: Acupuncture has been proven effective for various types of pain, and peripheral molecular signals around acupuncture-treated areas have been suggested to contribute to the analgesic effects of acupuncture. However, the underlying mechanism from these peripheral molecular signals to central ones remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether peripheral Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) activation induced by acupuncture treatment mediates acupuncture analgesia, and also to investigate the relationship between ROCK activation and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), which has previously been proven to mediate acupuncture analgesia and other related molecular changes during acupuncture.

Gut Microbiota Regulation by Acupuncture and Moxibustion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

There have been numerous studies investigating the impact of acupuncture and/or moxibustion on the gut microbiota, but the results have been inconclusive. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis that included both preclinical and clinical studies to assess the current evidence regarding the effects of acupuncture on gut microbiota changes. We collected relevant studies from EMBASE and PubMed, collected outcomes including diversity and relative abundance measures of the gut microbiome, and the summarized effect estimates were calculated using the ratio of means (ROM) with 95% confidence intervals.

Acupuncture ameliorates atopic dermatitis by modulating gut barrier function in a gut microbiota-dependent manner in mice.

Objective: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that may be linked to changes in the gut microbiome. Acupuncture has been proven to be effective in reducing AD symptoms without serious adverse events, but its underlying mechanism is not completely understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the potential effect of acupuncture on AD is gut microbiota-dependent.

Central Role of Hypothalamic Circuits for Acupuncture's Anti-Parkinsonian Effects.

Despite clinical data stretching over millennia, the neurobiological basis of the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating diseases of the central nervous system has remained elusive. Here, using an established model of acupuncture treatment in Parkinson's disease (PD) model mice, we show that peripheral acupuncture stimulation activates hypothalamic melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons via nerve conduction. We further identify two separate neural pathways originating from anatomically and electrophysiologically distinct MCH neuronal subpopulations, projecting to the substantia nigra and hippocampus, respectively.

Acupuncture attenuates comorbid anxiety- and depressive-like behaviors of atopic dermatitis through modulating neuroadaptation in the brain reward circuit in mice.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is highly comorbid with negative emotions such as anxiety and depression. Although acupuncture has demonstrated efficacy in AD, its influence on comorbid anxiety and depression remains unclear. We sought to explore the impact and mechanisms of action of acupuncture on comorbid anxiety and depression of AD.

Acupuncture Regulates Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease Brain Neural Activity and Functional Connectivity in Mice.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a multilayered progressive brain disease characterized by motor dysfunction and a variety of other symptoms. Although acupuncture has been used to ameliorate various symptoms of neurodegenerative disorders, including PD, the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, we investigated the mechanism of acupuncture by revealing the effects of acupuncture treatment on brain neural responses and its functional connectivity in an animal model of PD.

Peripheral ERK modulates acupuncture-induced brain neural activity and its functional connectivity.

Acupuncture has been widely used as a therapeutic intervention, and the brain network plays a crucial role in its neural mechanism. This study aimed to investigate the acupuncture mechanism from peripheral to central by identifying how the peripheral molecular signals induced by acupuncture affect the brain neural responses and its functional connectivity. We confirmed that peripheral ERK activation by acupuncture plays a role in initiating acupuncture-induced peripheral proteomic changes in mice.

Intranasal Administration of Melanin-Concentrating Hormone Reduces Stress-Induced Anxiety- and Depressive-Like Behaviors in Rodents.

Major depressive disorder is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder with few treatment options. Non-targeted antidepressants have low efficacy and can induce series of side effects. While a neuropeptide, melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH), is known to exhibit regulator of affective state, no study to date has assessed the anti-depressive effects of MCH in a stress-induced depression model.

Acupuncture inhibits neuroinflammation and gut microbial dysbiosis in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease.

Growing evidences show that gut microbiota is associated with the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) and the gut-brain axis can be promising target for the development of the therapeutic strategies for PD. Acupuncture has been used to improve brain functions and inflammation in neurological disorders such as PD, and to recover the gastrointestinal dysfunctions in various gastrointestinal disorders. Thus, we investigated whether acupuncture could improve Parkinsonism and gut microbial dysbiosis induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine.

Acupuncture alleviates chronic pain and comorbid conditions in a mouse model of neuropathic pain: the involvement of DNA methylation in the prefrontal cortex.

Chronic pain reduces life quality and is an important clinical problem associated with emotional and cognitive dysfunction. Epigenetic regulation of DNA methylation is involved in the induction of abnormal behaviors and pathological gene expression. We examined whether acupuncture can restore epigenetic changes caused by chronic pain, and identified the underlying mechanisms in neuropathic pain mice.

Muscovite nanoparticles mitigate neuropathic pain by modulating the inflammatory response and neuroglial activation in the spinal cord.

Despite numerous efforts to overcome neuropathic pain, various pharmacological drugs often fail to meet the needs and have many side effects. Muscovite is an aluminosilicate mineral that has been reported to have an anti-inflammatory effect, but the efficacy of muscovite for neuropathic pain has not been investigated. Here, we assessed whether muscovite nanoparticles can reduce the symptoms of pain by controlling the inflammatory process observed in neuropathic pain.

Acupuncture Improves Comorbid Cognitive Impairments Induced by Neuropathic Pain in Mice.

Growing evidence indicates that neuropathic pain is frequently accompanied by cognitive impairments, which aggravate the quality of life of chronic pain patients. Here, we investigated whether acupuncture treatments can improve cognitive dysfunction as well as allodynia induced by neuropathic pain in mice. One week after the left partial sciatic nerve ligation (PSNL), acupuncture treatments on the acupoints GB30-GB34 (AP1), HT7-GV20 (AP2), or control points (CP) were performed for 4 weeks.

Gami-Chunggan Formula Prevents Motor Dysfunction in MPTP/p-Induced and A53T α-Synuclein Overexpressed Parkinson's Disease Mouse Model Though DJ-1 and BDNF Expression.

The Gami-Chunggan formula (GCF) is a modification of the Chunggan (CG) decoction, which has been used to treat movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD) in Traditional East Asian Medicine. To evaluate the neuroprotective effects of GCF in chronic PD animal models, we used either a 5-week treatment of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine with probenecid (MPTP/p) or the α-synuclein A53T overexpressed PD mouse model. C57BL/6 mice were treated with MPTP, in combination with probenecid, for 5 weeks.

Augmented Mechanical Forces of the Surface-Modified Nanoporous Acupuncture Needles Elicit Enhanced Analgesic Effects.

Over the past several decades, clinical studies have shown significant analgesic effects of acupuncture. The efficacy of acupuncture treatment has improved with the recent development of nanoporous needles (PN), which are produced by modifying the needle surface using nanotechnology. Herein, we showed that PN at acupoint ST36 produces prolonged analgesic effects in an inflammatory pain model; the analgesic effects of PN acupuncture were sustained over 2 h, while those using a conventional needle (CN) lasted only 30 min.

Acupuncture modulates stress response by the mTOR signaling pathway in a rat post-traumatic stress disorder model.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disease that can form following exposure to a traumatic event. Acupuncture has been proposed as a beneficial treatment for PTSD, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The present study investigated whether acupuncture improves depression- and anxiety-like behaviors induced using a single prolonged stress (SPS) as a PTSD rat model.

Novel analgesic effects of melanin-concentrating hormone on persistent neuropathic and inflammatory pain in mice.

The melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is a peptidergic neuromodulator synthesized by neurons in the lateral hypothalamus and zona incerta. MCHergic neurons project throughout the central nervous system, indicating the involvements of many physiological functions, but the role in pain has yet to be determined. In this study, we found that pMCH mice showed lower baseline pain thresholds to mechanical and thermal stimuli than did pMCH mice, and the time to reach the maximum hyperalgesic response was also significantly earlier in both inflammatory and neuropathic pain.