Multi-effective characteristics and advantages of acupuncture in COVID-19 treatment.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a major disease that threatens human life and health. Its pathogenesis is complex and still not fully clarified. The clinical treatment is mainly supportive and lacks specific treatment methods. Acupuncture treatment can inhibit immune inflammatory reactions, neuroinflammatory reactions, oxidative stress levels, and hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity, improve lung function, and relieve migraine, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. However, whether acupuncture treatment is suitable for treating these symptoms in patients with COVID-19 still needs to be investigated. For this review, the literature was systematically searched for multiple databases to summarize the mechanisms of acupuncture treatment for COVID-19-related symptoms and complications. A complex network analysis of acupoints and symptoms was also performed to clarify acupoint selection in the acupuncture treatment of symptoms related to COVID-19. The evidence indicates that acupuncture can improve the respiratory, digestive, nervous, and mental and psychological symptoms related to COVID-19 by inhibiting immune inflammatory reactions, regulating intestinal flora, mitochondrial function, oxidative stress level, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, neurotransmitter release, and HPA axis activity, and alleviating basic diseases such as diseases of the vascular system. Acupuncture can improve various clinical and concomitant symptoms of COVID-19; however, its mechanism of action is complex and requires further study. Graphical abstract: http://links.lww.com/AHM/A54.

Effect of electroacupuncture at Zusanli (ST 36) on dorsal root nerve signals in normal rats.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how electroacupuncture (EA) at Zusanli (ST 36) with varying intensities of stimulation affects dorsal root nerve signals in normal rats. METHODS: Adult female Wistar rats were examined after drug-induced anesthesia and isolation of the L4 dorsal root associated with the Zusanli (ST 36) acupoint, using bipolar platinum electrodes. We applied EA at Zusanli (ST 36) with a continuous wave waveform for 1 min, and recorded action potentials in the L4 spinal cord dorsal root nerve with a frequency of 5 Hz and various current intensity levels (approximately 1-4 mA). In addition, we tested EA with a frequency of 15 Hz and current intensity of 1-4 mA. The L4 spinal cord dorsal nerve bundle action potentials were measured for 1 min of EA. To analyze the discharge frequency, we used the maximum Lyapunov exponent and Lempel-Ziv (LZ) complexity. RESULTS: At a fixed frequency, with increasing intensity of EA, dorsal root nerve filament discharge frequency revealed an initial increase, followed by a decreasing trend. A stimulation intensity of 3 mA induced a significantly greater discharge frequency, compared with stimulation intensities of 2 and 4 mA. EA stimulation evoked neuroelectric signals with chaotic characteristics. Increased intensity led to an initial increase in LZ complexity which then decreased, with a stimulation strength of 3 mA inducing the highest level of LZ complexity. CONCLUSION: EA of different intensities can induce nerve action potential encoding with different features.