Effects of Acupuncture on Alzheimer’s Disease in Animal‐Based Research

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease characterized by the accumulation of amyloid beta (A ) plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and severe functional deficits in the brain. The pathogenesis and treatment of AD remain topics of investigation and significant global socioeconomic issues. The effect of complementary medicine has been investigated in managing AD. Acupuncture, a form of therapy practiced for more than 3000 years, has shown positive effects on several neurological disorders including AD. Animal studies have evaluated the specific utility and neuropathological mechanisms addressed by acupoint manipulation; however, no study has summarized the relationships among different acupoints and their therapeutic effects in the context of AD. Therefore, we reviewed the effects of acupuncture at different acupoints in animal models of AD. In general, acupuncture produced therapeutic benefits in rodent models of AD. Studies demonstrate the utility of GV20 as a valuable acupoint for electroacupuncture and manual acupuncture. GV20 stimulation suppresses A generation, improves glucose metabolism, and attenuates neuropathological features in various disease models. However, a lack of sufficient evidence in preclinical and clinical studies makes these results controversial. Additional studies are required to confirm the exact utility of specific acupoints in clinically managing AD.

Reduction of Freezing Behavior by Acupuncture Stimulation at HT7 in Contextual Fear-Conditioned Mice

“…A functional magnetic resonance imaging study also revealed that multiple brain regions related to cognitive functions, such as memory function, were activated by acupuncture stimulation including HT7 in patients with AD 25) . In addition, stimulation at HT7 improved cognitive function and increased glucose metabolism in the neocortex and hippocampus in a rat model of AD 27) , and acupuncture stimulation at multiple acupoints including HT7 in healthy undergraduate students resulted in the improvement of memory function as well as the reduction of anxiety 7) . It can thus be assumed that, in the present study, memory function was at least maintained and HT7-acupuncture affected the miceʼs feeling of fear.…”

Preventive Electroacupuncture Ameliorates D‐Galactose‐Induced Alzheimer’s Disease‐Like Pathology and Memory Deficits Probably via Inhibition of GSK3β/mTOR Signaling Pathway

“…It has been reported that acupuncture can yield protective effects on AD via various pathways such as attenuating neuroinflammation, inhibiting Aβ protein deposition and tau hyperphosphorylation, enhancing glucose brain metabolism, reducing oxidative stress and inhibiting neuronal apoptosis [53,54]. However, there has been no investigation on the effects of acupuncture on the dendritic spines and microtubules in AD-like pathological rodents, especially in aging animals.…”

Verum- versus Sham-Acupuncture on Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) in Animal Models: A Preclinical Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…e lack of an effective placebo-or sham-acupuncture control reduces the validity of the results. No meta-analysis was included in that review as well [44]. Our subgroup analysis suggests that the effect of EA seemed slightly better than MA.…”

“…Park et al published the first review on the effect of acupuncture on AD in animal-based research in 2017 [44]. According to Park's review, MA and EA appeared to generate similar benefits to AD rodents when targeted the same acupoints [44]. One limitation of Park's review is that it included two studies without any experiment and assessment for animal behaviors.…”

“…e underlying mechanisms linking acupuncture and the treatment of AD were partially summarized in our result section. In addition to the proposed mechanisms listed in Table 1, we identified three relevant review papers, including one systematic review without meta-analysis [45] and two narrative reviews [44,46]. According to the review by Leung et al [45] and Cao et al [46], acupuncture could alleviate cognitive impairments by modulating multiple signaling pathways involved in neuroprotection and neurorepair.…”