Acupuncture promotes nerve repair through the benign regulation of mTOR-mediated neuronal autophagy in traumatic brain injury rats.

AIMS: Recent investigations have already proved the neuroprotective efficacy of acupuncture in clinical practice in the treatment of neurological diseases, such as traumatic brain injury (TBI). Since growing evidence has suggested that neuronal autophagy was involved in multiple stages of TBI, this study aims to clarify the autophagy mediating mechanism underlying the neuroprotective effect of acupuncture in TBI rats. METHODS: Three experiments were carried out to detect changes in neuronal autophagy and identify the potential molecular mechanism underlying the neuroprotective effect of acupuncture for TBI treatment. Feeney's free-falling epidural impingement method was used to establish the moderate TBI rat model; modified neurological severity scoring (mNSS) was used for neurological recovery evaluation. Nissl and HE staining were used to examine the histopathological changes. Immunofluorescence was used to detect the LC3-positive cell rate. The transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used to investigate the morphology and quantity of autophagosomes. Western blotting was used to determine the protein expressions of LC3, p62, beclin1, mTOR, ULK1, p-mTOR, and p-ULK1. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used for gene expressions analysis of LC3 mRNA and p62 mRNA. Co-immunoprecipitation (CO-IP) method was used to identify the protein interaction of mTOR and ULK1. RESULTS: On Day 3 after TBI, acupuncture accelerated the removal of damaged cellular structures by promoting neuronal autophagy; on Day 7 and Day 14 after TBI, acupuncture inhibited neuronal autophagy, preventing excessive autophagy and thus alleviated nerve damage. In addition, the simultaneous treatment with 3-MA or rapamycin at different stages after TBI attenuated the effect of acupuncture. CONCLUSION: Acupuncture has a benign regulatory effect on neuronal autophagy in different stages of TBI, possibly through the mTOR/ULK1 pathway.

The Influence of Acupuncture Parameters on Efficacy and the Possible Use of Acupuncture in Combination with or as a Substitute for Drug Therapy in Patients with Ulcerative Colitis.

Background: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an inflammatory disease of the colonic mucosa, which is accompanied by chronic, idiopathic characteristics. Acupuncture may be an effective therapy for UC. Here we focused on manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture (MA/EA), two widely used and studied acupuncture interventions, to probe the effects of acupuncture parameters on clinical efficacy in patients with UC and the use of MA/EA alone or with other drugs to support their wider adoption in clinical practice. Methods: The PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, and Wanfang databases were searched from inception to April 27, 2021. Randomized clinical trials (RCTs) published in Chinese or English were included, and subgroup analyses were performed according to acupuncture parameter, acupuncture type, and control medicine type. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and modified Jadad scale, and Review Manager 5.4 and Stata 14.0 were used to perform a meta-analysis. Sources of heterogeneity were explored; sensitivity analysis was performed; and the GRADE methodology was used to assess the evidence level. Results: Sixteen studies (1454 individuals) were included. Retention of the needle [10-30 minutes (RR 1.18, 95% CI [1.11, 1.26], P < 0.01; heterogeneity: χ 2 = 6.25, df = 6 (P=0.40), I2 = 4%)], the frequency of MA [once every other day (RR 1.21, 95% CI [1.08, 1.35], P < 0.01; heterogeneity: χ 2 = 0.80, df = 1 (P=0.37), I2 = 0%)], and the length of treatment [8 weeks (RR 1.35, 95% CI [1.01, 1.81], P=0.04)] improved clinical efficacy at the end of treatment compared with medications alone. MA (RR 1.18, 95% CI [1.11, 1.25], P < 0.01; heterogeneity: χ 2 = 6.19, df = 7 (P=0.52), I2 = 0%) increased clinical efficacy compared with medications. Furthermore, MA plus medications (RR 1.26, 95% CI [1.13, 1.40], P < 0.01; heterogeneity: χ 2 = 0.95, df = 2 (P=0.62), I2 = 0%) and EA plus medications (RR 1.36, 95% CI [1.13, 1.63], P < 0.01; heterogeneity: χ 2 = 0.13, df = 1 (P=0.72), I2 = 0%) both dramatically improved clinical efficacy. The clinical efficacy of MA plus mesalazine or MA plus metronidazole and sulfasalazine was greater than with mesalazine or metronidazole and sulfasalazine alone. Similarly, EA plus sulfasalazine was more effective than sulfasalazine alone. MA/EA resulted in fewer adverse reactions than medical therapies. The use of MA plus medications significantly reduced Baron scores. GRADE evaluations indicated that the evidence strength was moderate to low but mostly low. Conclusions: Our study provides the latest evidence to allow us to speculate about the possible optimal MA parameters to treat patients with UC. The low number of adverse reactions and high efficacy make MA/EA a possible supplement to or replacement for traditional UC drugs. The variable parameter settings preferred by patients and acupuncturists may be an important factor limiting the wider clinical deployment of acupuncture as a potential UC therapy.