Integrative research on the mechanisms of acupuncture mechanics and interdisciplinary innovation (2025 China)
This paper delves into the entire mechanical process of acupuncture, from skin penetration to point stimulation, and analyzes tissue responses to provide a solid theoretical foundation for the scientific study of acupuncture.
The Mechanism of Acupuncture Regulating Autophagy:
Progress and Prospect (2025 China)
https:/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40001566//
Apoptosis and autophagy are two important cellular processes
which control cell survival or death,
and also considered as a balanced response to pathogens and
other immune stimuli that play an important role in maintaining physiologic homeostasis.
There are few effective and safe ways to regulate cell apoptosis and autophagy
in clinical practice right now.
Modulation of acupuncture on cell apoptosis and autophagy (2017 China)
Regulating autophagy is one of the mechanisms
through which acupuncture exerts its therapeutic effects.
The regulatory effect of acupuncture on autophagy capacity is bidirectional:
it inhibits the abnormal activation of autophagy to prevent exacerbation of injury
and reduce apoptosis, while also activating or enhancing autophagy
to promote the elimination of inflammation and reduce oxidative stress.
Autophagy is a complex molecular pathway by which eukaryotic cells
degrade longlived proteins, organelles, and pathogens,
and recycle some of the energy required for recirculation to maintain
cellular and organismal homeostasis.
Autophagy is involved in intercellular communication;
responding to cellular stress; senescence, and death;
inhibiting inflammatory responses; and improving organismal metabolism.
Acupuncture promotes self-regulation through an autostable mechanism,
with its direction of action contingent on the body’s pathological conditions.
Whether addressing abnormal autophagy resulting from various diseases
(either overactivation or under-activation) or
autophagy disorders that manifest at different stages of the same disease,
acupuncture can help restore the body’s functions from a biased state to a balanced one.
This underscores the bidirectional regulatory effect of acupuncture.
This paper systematically reviews the research progress on the use of acupuncture
for treating various diseases via the autophagy pathway.
Current status of neuroimaging research
on the effects of acupuncture:
a bibliometric and visual analyses (2022 China)
An econometric analysis of the national and regional characteristics of
acupuncture neuroimaging studies was performed.
The results showed that 15 countries,
led by China, the United States, South Korea and Germany,
show a significant central tendency.
China and the United States were the top two countries that aided
neuroimaging research on acupuncture effect.
Revealing the magic of acupuncture based on biological mechanisms:
A literature review (2022 China)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35153276
The current review describes the common indications for acupuncture
recommended by the WHO and the use of acupuncture
in China, the United States, Australia,
and several other countries.
This review then summarized the mechanisms by which acupuncture treats
common conditions including lower back pain (LBP), ischemic stroke,
depression, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Understandings of acupuncture application and mechanisms
(2022 Taiwan)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35422904/
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV)
channels are involved in the stimulation of acupuncture at the acupoint area.
In the central nervous system (CNS), neurotransmissions including opioids,
serotonin, norepinephrine, orexin and endocannabinoid are modulated
by acupuncture to induce analgesia.
Moreover, acupuncture reduces cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels on the peripheral level by acting on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, mediating peripheral opioid release.
Acupuncture helps to treat insomnia by inhibiting sympathetic activity and
down-regulating the HPA axis.
Additionally, acupuncture reduces the effects of positive and negative reinforcements
by modulating dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens.
Recently, i-needles have been developed to allow for the analysis of metagenomics,
meta-transcriptomics, and host-microbiome relationships following acupuncture,
while skin implantable microsensors or needle-shaped microsensors are feasible
for monitoring real-time microenvironmental changes in acupoints and even target organs.
These studies may further accelerate the understanding of acupuncture’s action mechanism.
Acupuncture impacts same biologic pathways in rats that pain drugs target in humans
(2015 USA)
Effects and Mechanism of Acupuncture Based on the Principle of Meridians
(2013 China, USA, Austria, Korea)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24379888
In this special issue, we have provided an overview of the majority of studies related to
the effects and mechanisms of acupuncture based on principal meridians.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3860140/pdf/ECAM2013-684027.pdf
Stimulated oxygen transport in tissue by magnetic needles – Physiology of acupuncture (2022 China, Sweden Uppsala University)
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.01.426016v2.full.pdf
An acupoint-originated human interstitial fluid circulatory network
(2021 China, Austria, Germay)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8509956/pdf/cm9-134-2365.pdf
Effects and mechanism of acupuncture based on the principle of meridians
(2013 China, USA, Austria, Korea)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3860140/pdf/ECAM2013-684027.pdf
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24379888/
The Meridian is a Set of Pathways for Interstitial Fluid to Travel among Tissues (2013 Taiwan)
http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.health.20130302.01.html
Acupuncture: Its Place in the History of Chinese Medicine
(2000 British Medical Journal, UK)
https://institutpsychoneuro.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Acupuncture-in-the-History-of-Chinese-Medicine-2000.pdf
Was Acupuncture Developed by Han Dynasty Chinese Anatomists?
(2016 University of Oxford, UK)
https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ar.23325
How Acupuncture works ? (2012 China)
The Science of Stretch (2013)
