Acupuncture-moxibustion in treating irritable bowel syndrome: How does it work?

Abstract

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional intestinal disease characterized by abdominal pain or discomfort and altered bowel habits. It has drawn great attention because of its high prevalence, reoccurring symptoms, and severe influence on patients' lives. Many clinical studies have demonstrated the efficacy of acupuncture-moxibustion in treating IBS. Increasing attention has been paid to research regarding the action mechanisms of acupuncture-moxibustion for IBS, and the adoption of modern techniques has achieved some progress. This article reviews the latest advances among action mechanism studies from the perspectives of gastrointestinal motility, visceral hypersensitivity, the brain-gut axis, the neuroendocrine system, and the immune system. It is shown that acupuncture-moxibustion can effectively regulate the above items, and thus, this treatment should have a high efficacy in the treatment of IBS. This article also identifies existing problems in current mechanism research and raises several ideas for future studies. Further revelations regarding these action mechanisms will promote the application of acupuncture-moxibustion in treating IBS.

Effect of electroacupuncture on P2X3 receptor regulation in the peripheral and central nervous systems of rats with visceral pain caused by irritable bowel syndrome

“…The Shangjuxu point and the Tianshu point are an ancient and classical acupoint combination for the treatment of intestinal diseases using acupuncture. Our group has been engaged in clinical and basic research [9][10][11][12][13] on the treatment of IBS through acupuncture for years, and we have achieved desirable clinical efficacy. The preliminary mechanism of acupuncture in relieving visceral hypersensitivity has been elucidated in previous studies.…”

“…As an important part of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture has 5000-year history in the treatment of IBS visceral pain and diarrhea and has been used extensively in clinics. The longterm clinical practice and fundamental research of our study group has also confirmed the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for IBS [9][10][11][12][13] and has led to a preliminary explanation for a portion of the mechanism underlying the acupuncture treatment of IBS visceral pain [14]. As a neurotransmitter, ATP plays an important role in regulating the transduction of the visceral pain signal by binding to P2X receptors [15,16], and ATP participates in the regulation of intestinal movement and gastrointestinal secretion.…”

The Role of Visceral Hypersensitivity in Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Pharmacological Targets and Novel Treatments

“…148 Some of these methods like acupuncture-moxibustion and hypnotherapy showed beneficial effects on the relief of IBS symptoms and alleviation of visceroperception mediated by regulating brain-gut axis peptides, as well as mediators of the neuroendocrine system. 149,150 Several clinical trials on different subgroups of patients with IBS confirmed the efficacy of acupuncture-moxibustion in managing gut complications, including improving low threshold of the rectal sensation, gut motility, and pain perception, indicating their therapeutic benefits on VH. 149,[151][152][153] Nevertheless, there is still a need for clinical trials to be set up for providing evidence on the dose, duration, and efficacy of different types of CAM.…”

Irritable Bowel Syndrome

“…Acupuncture involves the insertion of needles to target acupoints, whereas moxibustion is the application of heat (by ignited moxa) to the acupuncture points (Ma et al, 2014). In an investigation of acupuncture in IBS, Chu et al (2012) used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate brain activation in patients with IBS-D.…”