Effects of electroacupuncture on the ventral tegmental area- nucleus accumbens dopamine pathway in rats with chronic sleep deprivation

Neural circuit mechanisms of acupuncture effect: where are we now?

Recently, there has been increasing attention on the impact of acupuncture on the dysregulated neural circuits in different disease. This has led to new understandings of how acupuncture works. This review presents a comprehensive analysis of research that have examined the impact of acupuncture on abnormal neural circuits associated with pain, anxiety, Parkinson's disease, addiction disorders, cognitive problems, and gastrointestinal disorders. These studies have shown that acupuncture's therapeutic effects are mediated by specific brain areas and neurons involved in neural circuit mechanisms, emphasising its wide-ranging influence. The positive impacts of acupuncture can be ascribed to its ability to modify the functioning of neurocircuits in various physiological conditions. Nevertheless, contemporary studies on acupuncture neural circuits frequently overlook the comprehensive circuit mechanism including the periphery, central nervous system, and target organ. Additionally, the scope of diseases studied is restricted. Future study should focus on broadening the range of diseases studied and exploring the neural circuit mechanisms of these diseases in depth in order to enhance our understanding of acupuncture's neurobiological impacts.

Acupuncture for primary insomnia: Effectiveness, safety, mechanisms and recommendations for clinical practice

Primary insomnia (PI) is an increasing concern in modern society. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia is the first-line recommendation, yet limited availability and cost impede its widespread use. While hypnotics are frequently used, balancing their benefits against the risk of adverse events poses challenges. This review summarizes the clinical and preclinical evidence of acupuncture as a treatment for PI, discussing its potential mechanisms and role in reliving insomnia. Clinical trials show that acupuncture improves subjective sleep quality, fatigue, cognitive impairments, and emotional symptoms with minimal adverse events. It also positively impacts objective sleep processes, including prolonging total sleep time, improving sleep efficiency, reducing sleep onset latency and wake after sleep onset, and enhancing sleep architecture/structure, including increasing N3% and REM%, and decreasing N1%. However, methodological shortcomings in some trials diminish the overall quality of evidence. Animal studies suggest that acupuncture restores circadian rhythms in sleep-deprived rodents and improves their performance in behavioral tests, possibly mediated by various clinical variables and pathways. These may involve neurotransmitters, brain-derived neurotrophic factors, inflammatory cytokines, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, gut microbiota, and other cellular events. While the existing findings support acupuncture as a promising therapeutic strategy for PI, additional high-quality trials are required to validate its benefits.

The effects of acupuncture on sleep disorders and its underlying mechanism: a literature review of rodent studies

Sleep is a set of physiological processes mainly under neurobiological regulation that affect several physiological systems, and sleep disorders are a condition where normal sleep patterns are disturbed. Clinical studies have confirmed the effects of acupuncture on sleep duration and quality. Although many studies have explored the therapeutic effects of acupuncture on sleep disorders, the mechanisms are unclear. We investigated the mechanism of acupuncture efficacy in a rodent model of sleep disorders and evaluated the therapeutic effects of acupuncture treatment. According to our results, sleep disorders are associated with several brain regions and neurotransmitters. Furthermore, this review showed that neurological processes, such as catecholamine and BDNF signaling pathways, can be regulated by acupuncture, which is a crucial aspect of the acupuncture mechanism in sleep disorders.