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

Abstract

Background. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common health condition affecting senile people and leads to severe cognitive dysfunctions. Acupuncture has been shown to be a possible alternative natural remedy for AD in some animal studies. Objective. To perform a systematic review to identify the effect of verum-acupuncture compared with sham-acupuncture on learning and memory performance among animal models of AD. Methods. Experimental animal studies of treating AD via verum- and sham- acupuncture were searched in nine electronic databases, including Sciverse ScienceDirect, PubMed, Springer, Ebsco Medline, AMED, EMBASE (Elsevier), Scopus (Elsevier), PsycINFO (ProQuest), and OVID from the dates of the databases’ inception to June 2019. The Morris water maze test was considered as an outcome measure. The software Revman 5.3 and Stata 16.0 were used to conduct the meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was examined by using I2 statistics. The publication bias was assessed via Begg’s test by Stata 16.0. Results. Twelve studies involving 229 animals met the inclusion criteria. Most of the studies had a moderate quality according to SYRCLE's risk of bias tool for animal studies. The results of the meta-analysis indicated that verum-acupuncture could reduce the escape latency (MD = −12.90, 95% CI (−17.08, −8.71), p<0.001) and increase the time spent in the original platform quadrant (MD = 7.28, 95% CI (4.23, 10.33), p<0.001) and frequency of the crossing former platform (MD = 2.01, 95% CI (1.53, 2.50), p<0.001) compared with the sham-acupuncture. Conclusions. Acupuncture is effective in improving cognitive functions in AD animal models, and this benefit is more than just a placebo effect. Further clinical trials are needed to confirm the findings.

Electroacupuncture Protects Cognition by Regulating Tau Phosphorylation and Glucose Metabolism via the AKT/GSK3β Signaling Pathway in Alzheimer’s Disease Model Mice

“…When cognitive impairment becomes sufficient to interfere with daily function, the patient is diagnosed with AD (Albert et al, 2011). Cognitive decline is a major issue that affects the quality of life of AD patients (Zhao et al, 2020). Clinical studies have shown that acupuncture reduces cognitive impairment in AD patients (Feng et al, 2012;Tan et al, 2017).…”

Acupuncture at GV20 and ST36 Improves the Recovery of Behavioral Activity in Rats Subjected to Cerebral Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury

“…Traditional Chinese medicine theory suggests that ischemic cerebrovascular disease belongs to the “stroke” category and that its main pathogeneses are virtual product loss, yin and yang imbalance, and blood against chaos, which ultimately cause blockage and cerebral ischemia ( Miao et al, 2017 ; Wu et al, 2017 ; Li et al, 2019 ). Acupuncture can clear blockages in the brain vascular system, regulate yin and yang imbalance, and improve vital qi in the body ( Lou et al, 2020 ; Zhao et al, 2020 ; Wang C. C. et al, 2022 ). In the present study, we chose acupoints GV20 and ST36 based on the theory of meridians and acupuncture points.…”

Electroacupuncture on Trigeminal Nerve-Innervated Acupoints Ameliorates Poststroke Cognitive Impairment in Rats with Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion: Involvement of Neuroprotection and Synaptic Plasticity

“…The needles were connected to the output terminals of the electroacupuncture instrument (ITO Physiotherapy & Rehabilitation Co., Tokyo, Japan) with continuous-wave stimulation at a frequency of 2 Hz, intensity of 1 mA, pulse width of 100 μ s for 10 min, for 14 days. The determination of the low frequency is used because it could exert broader modulatory effects on central neurochemical systems compared to that of the high frequency and has been widely used in clinical practice and animal studies [ 25 ]. The same wire stabilization without acupuncture needle procedure was used during the treatment, to minimize potential confounders in the model and sham-operated groups.…”