Acupuncture Regulates Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease via Brain Neural Activity and Functional Connectivity in Mice

Abstract

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. We observed that destruction of neuronal network between many brain regions in PD mice were reversed by acupuncture. Using machine learning analysis, we found that the key region associated with the improvement of abnormal behaviors might be related to the neural activity of M1, suggesting that the changes of c-Fos in M1 could predict the improvement of motor function induced by acupuncture treatment. In addition, acupuncture treatment was shown to significantly normalize the brain neural activity not only in M1 but also in other brain regions related to motor behavior (striatum, substantia nigra pars compacta, and globus pallidus) and non-motor symptoms (hippocampus, lateral hypothalamus, and solitary tract) of PD. Taken together, our results demonstrate that acupuncture treatment might improve the PD symptoms by normalizing the brain functional connectivity in PD mice model and provide new insights that enhance our current understanding of acupuncture mechanisms for non-motor symptoms.

Potential role of acupuncture in the treatment of Parkinson's disease: A narrative review

“… 34 The PD mouse model also showed impairments in brain networks and functional connectivity. 35 These impairments in BFC showed improvement after acupuncture treatment in the mice model, along with the improvement in motor function and the affeted areas in the brain involving the motor cortex, substantia nigra, and striatum which are closely related to PD pathology. BFC enhancement was also shown in the hippocampus and hypothalamus implying that acupuncture may improve non-motor symptoms of PD such as memory, cognition, anxiety, and sleep disorders.…”

“…Acupuncture treatment has been effective in improving inflammation and normalizing BFC in PD mice models. 23 , 35 Current evidence on the acupuncture strategies based on the two discussed mechanisms has limitations in that their neuromodulating effects have mostly been studied in animal models of PD or in healthy human participants. Therefore, further acupuncture mechanism studies on human patients with PD are needed, especially along with evaluations of changes in clinical symptoms and related biomarkers.…”

Acupuncture therapy for Parkinson’s disease: a case report demonstrating symptomatic improvement without medication

“…Several recently published meta-analyses also suggested that acupuncture-related therapies combined with conventional medication showed a moderate or large effect on movement function in patients with PD ( 6 , 27 ). Animal studies have established a scientific foundation supporting the potential of acupuncture in ameliorating symptoms observed in Parkinson’s disease ( 7–9 ).…”

“…Furthermore, animal studies have provided a scientific basis, supporting the potential of acupuncture in improving the symptoms of PD patients. These studies have demonstrated the capacity of acupuncture to normalize brain functional connectivity, diminish neuronal apoptosis in the striatum, reduce lipid peroxide levels in dopaminergic neurons, and protect neurons from oxidative damage (7)(8)(9).…”

Qualitative and quantitative meta-analysis of acupuncture effects on the motor function of Parkinson's disease patients

“…As there were some differences in the baseline between the two studies, more quantitative studies with better homogeneity will be needed to confirm this conclusion. Animal experiments have proved that there is a certain scientific basis for acupuncture to improve motor function in PD, such as reducing neuronal apoptosis of the striatum (Lu et al, 2012 ), normalizing the brain functional connectivity (Oh et al, 2022 ), inhibiting the level of lipid peroxides in dopaminergic neurons and protect neurons from oxidative damage (Zuo et al, 2022 ). However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no multi-session animal experiments to explore the dose-response mechanism of acupuncture in the treatment of PD, so high-quality scientific evidence is still needed.…”