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Objectives: To analyze the effect of acupuncture at the acupoints for Yizhi Tiaoshen (benefiting the intelligence and regulating the spirit) on the functional connectivity between the hippocampus and the whole brain in the patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and reveal the brain function mechanism of acupuncture in treatment of AD using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI)., Methods: Sixty patients with mild to moderate AD were randomly divided into an acupuncture + medication group (30 cases, 3 cases dropped out) and a western medication group (30 cases, 2 cases dropped out). In the western medication group, the donepezil hydrochloride tablets were administered orally, 2.5 mg to 5 mg each time, once daily; and adjusted to be 10 mg each time after 4 weeks of medication. Besides the therapy as the western medication group, in the acupuncture + medication group, acupuncture was supplemented at the acupoints for Yizhi Tiaoshen , i.e. Baihui (GV 20), Sishencong (EX-HN 1), and bilateral Shenmen (HT 7), Neiguan (PC 6), Zusanli (ST 36), Sanyinjiao (SP 6) and Xuanzhong (GB 39). The needles were retained for 30 min in one treatment, once daily; and 6 treatments were required weekly. The duration of treatment was 6 weeks in each group. The general cognitive function was assessed by the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Alzheimer's disease assessment scale-cognitive part (ADAS-Cog) before and after treatment in the two groups. Using the rs-fMRI, the changes in the functional connectivity (FC) of the left hippocampus and the whole brain before and after treatment were analyzed in the patients of the two groups (11 cases in the acupuncture + medication group and 12 cases in the western medication group)., Results: After treatment, compared with those before treatment, MMSE scores increased and ADAS-Cog scores decreased in the two groups ( P< 0.05); MMSE score was higher, while the ADAS-Cog score was lower in the acupuncture + medication group when compared with those in the western medication group ( P ≤0.05). After treatment, in the western medication group, FC of the left hippocampus was enhanced with the left fusiform gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus of the left triangular region, the bilateral superior temporal gyrus and the right superior parietal gyrus ( P <0.05), while FC was weakened with the left inferior temporal gyrus, the left middle frontal gyrus and the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus when compared with that before treatment ( P< 0.05). After treatment, in the acupuncture + medication group, FC of the left hippocampus was increased with the right gyrus rectus, the left inferior occipital gyrus, the right superior temporal gyrus and the left middle occipital gyrus ( P< 0.05), and it was declined with the left thalamus ( P< 0.05) when compared with those before treatment. After treatment, in the acupuncture + medication group, FC of the left hippocampus was strengthened with the bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, the right gyrus rectus, the bilateral superior occipital gyrus, the left lenticular nucleus putamen, the left calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex, the inferior frontal gyrus of the left insulae operculum, the left medial superior frontal gyrus and the right posterior central gyrus ( P <0.05) compared with that of the western medication group., Conclusions: Acupuncture at the acupoints for Yizhi Tiaoshen improves the cognitive function of AD patients, and its main brain functional mechanism is related to intensifying the functional connectivity of the left hippocampus with the default network (inferior temporal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus, gyrus rectus), as well as with the sensory (posterior central gyrus) and visual (calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex and superior occipital gyrus) brain regions.

Objective: To observe the effects of Yizhi Tiaoshen (benefiting mental health and regulating the spirit) acupuncture on learning and memory function, and the expression of phosphorylated tubulin-associated unit (tau) protein in the hippocampus of Alzheimer's disease (AD) model rats, and explore the effect mechanism of this therapy on AD., Methods: A blank group and a sham-operation group were randomly selected from 60 male SD rats, 10 rats in each one. AD models were established in the rest 40 rats by the intraperitoneal injection of D-galactose and okadaic acid in the CA1 region of the bilateral hippocampus. Thirty successfully-replicated model rats were randomly divided into a model group, a western medication group and an acupuncture group, 10 rats in each one. In the acupuncture group, acupuncture was applied to "Baihui" (GV 20), "Sishencong" (EX-HN 1), "Neiguan" (PC 6), "Shenmen" (HT 7), "Xuanzhong" (GB 39) and "Sanyinjiao" (SP 6); and the needles were retained for 10 min. Acupuncture was given once daily. One course of treatment was composed of 6 days, with the interval of 1 day; the completion of treatment included 4 courses. In the western medication group, donepezil hydrochloride solution (0.45 mg/kg) was administrated intragastrically, once daily; it took 7 days to accomplish one course of treatment and a completion of intervention was composed of 4 courses. Morris water maze (MWM) and novel object recognition test (NORT) were used to assess the learning and memory function of the rats. Using HE staining and Nissl staining, the morphological structure of the hippocampus was observed. With Western blot adopted, the protein expression of the tau, phosphorylated tau protein at Ser198 (p-tau Ser198), protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) in the hippocampus was detected., Results: There were no statistical differences in all of the indexes between the sham-operation group and the blank group. Compared with the sham-operation group, in the model group, the MWM escape latency was prolonged ( P <0.05), the crossing frequency and the quadrant stay time in original platform were shortened ( P <0.05), and the NORT discrimination index (DI) was reduced ( P <0.05); the hippocampal cell numbers were declined and the cells arranged irregularly, the hippocampal neuronal structure was abnormal and the numbers of Nissl bodies decreased; the protein expression of p-tau Ser198 and GSK-3βwas increased ( P <0.05) and that of PP2A decreased ( P <0.05). When compared with the model group, in the western medication group and the acupuncture group, the MWM escape latency was shortened ( P <0.05), the crossing frequency and the quadrant stay time in original platform were increased ( P <0.05), and DI got higher ( P <0.05); the hippocampal cell numbers were elevated and the cells arranged regularly, the damage of hippocampal neuronal structure was attenuated and the numbers of Nissl bodies were increased; the protein expression of p-tau Ser198 and GSK-3β was reduced ( P <0.05) and that of PP2A was increased ( P <0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in the above indexes between the acupuncture group and the western medication group ( P >0.05)., Conclusion: Acupuncture therapy of "benefiting mental health and regulating the spirit" could improve the learning and memory function and alleviate neuronal injure of AD model rats. The effect mechanism of this therapy may be related to the down-regulation of GSK-3β and the up-regulation of PP2A in the hippocampus, and then to inducing the inhibition of tau protein phosphorylation.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease in the elderly. Studies have shown that acupuncture can effectively alleviate the symptoms of AD and slow down the disease progression, and its mechanism has been intensively explored. This paper summarized the researches on the mechanism of acupuncture intervention on AD in the past 5 years. It has been found that acupuncture intervention on AD is correlated with the regulation of the expression levels of relevant proteins, the inhibition of central inflammatory response, the resistance to oxidative stress injury, the modulation of brain energy metabolism, the improvement of neuronal synaptic plasticity, the adjustment of autophagy activity and the suppression of neuronal apoptosis.

Acupuncture therapy has a positive effect in the treatment of amblyopia. This article summarizes findings of the research on brain mechanisms underlying the regulatory effect of acupuncture on visual plasticity of amblyopia. In a multi-system and multi-level viewpoints, we elaborated brain mechanism underlying the regulatory effect of acupuncture on visual plasticity in amblyopia from the perspective of ultrastructure, plasticity, electrical activities, neural coding and visual microcirculation of the neurons of the visual cortex, and the targeting points from the visual center to the effector organ.

Objective: To observe the therapeutic effect of acupuncture in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-induced abnormal behavior reactions and learning-memory ability in rats with traumatic injury., Methods: Sixty male SD rats were randomly divided into control, model, model＋animal capturing (capturing), medication and acupuncture groups ( n ＝12 rats in each). The PTSD model was established by "electric shock plus incarceration" method. Acupuncture was applied to "Baihui" (GV 20), and unilateral "Neiguan" (PC 6), "Shenmen" (HT 7) and "Taichong" (LR 3) once daily for 12 days. The rats in the medication group were treated by gavage of Paroxetine Hydrochloride solution (0.42 mg/mL), once daily for 12 days. The open field test containing horizontal (crossing grid lines) and rearing tests was performed for examining the rats' locomotor activity and anxiety-like behavior; and location navigation (escape latency) and special probe tests (platform quadrant crossing times) of Morris water maze tasks were detected for assessing the rats' learning-memory ability. On day 12 of the experiments, the rats were submitted to 3 consecutive sessions of open field tests for observing the time of familiar objects (TF) and the time of novelty object (TN) of exploration in 5 min (an object-location and an object-recognition tasks), followed by calculating the discrimination index [DI＝(TN－TF)/(TN＋TF)x100%]., Results: After modeling, compared with the control group, the numbers of crossed grids and rearing, and DI were significantly decreased ( P <0.05), while the number of fecal pellets and escape latency were significantly increased in both the model and capturing groups ( P <0.05). After the intervention, the number of both crossed grids and rearing, platform quadrant crossing times, and DI were considerably increased ( P <0.05), and the rats' escape latency and fecal pellet number were obviously decreased in both medication and acupuncture groups relevant to the model and capturing groups ( P <0.05). No significant differences were found between the acupuncture and medication groups in the above mentioned 5 indexes ( P >0.05)．., Conclusion: Acupuncture can effectively reduce anxiety-like behavior and improve the impaired learning-memory ability in PTSD rats.

Acupuncture has been found effective for the treatment of amblyopia, and its mechanism has been investigated. A review of recently published research results indicated that when used to treat amblyopia, acupuncture induced changes in the action of neurotransmitters in the visual system, promoted the secretion and synthesis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and stimulated the expression of genes related to visual plasticity.

Objective: To observe the effect of acupuncture of "Zusanli" [ST 36, Ho (Sea)-acupoint] and "Zhongwan" (CV 12, front Mu-acupoint) on the expression of hypothalamic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) mRNA and SP mRNA in stress-induced gastric ulcer (GU) rats., Methods: Sixty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into normal control group, simple bundling group, GU model group, CV 12 group, ST 36 group and CV 12 + ST 36 (Ho- and front Mu-acupoint combination) group, with 10 cases in each group. GU model was established by binding the rat's four limbs to an animal board and to immerse it to cool water for 24 h. Manual acupuncture stimulation was applied to CV 12, bilateral ST 36 or CV 12 + ST 36 for 20 min, once daily for 2 days. The GU index was evaluated by using Guth's method (1979). GnRH mRNA and SP mRNA expression of the hypothalamus tissue was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)., Results: Compared with the normal group, the GU index values in the simple bundling group and the model group were significantly higher (P < 0.01); while in comparison with the model group, the GU index values were significantly decreased in the CV 12, ST 36 and CV 12 + ST 36 groups (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Following stress stimulation, hypothalamic GnRH mRNA expression levels in the simple bundling group and the model group were remarkably increased (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), whereas those of hypothalamic SP mRNA expression had no apparent changes in these two groups (P > 0.05). After manual acupuncture intervention, hypothalamic GnRH mRNA expression levels in the CV 12, ST 36 and CV 12 + ST 36 groups were evidently down-regulated and SP mRNA expression levels in the ST 36 and CV 12+ ST 36 groups were remarkably upregulated in comparison with the model group (P < 0.01). No significant differences were found between the CV 12 and ST 36 groups in the GU index, among the CV 12, ST 36 and CV 12 + ST 36 groups in GnRH mRNA expression, and between the CV 12 and model groups in the expression levels of SP mRNA (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: Acupuncture of CV 12 and ST 36 can relieve stress-induced gastric ulcer in the rat, which is closely with its effect in down-regulating hypothalamic GnRH mRNA expression.

Objective: To explore electrophysiology mechanism of acupuncture for treatment and prevention of visual deprivation effect., Methods: Eighteen healthy 15-day Evans rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group and an acupuncture group, 6 rats in each one. Deprivation amblyopia model was established by monocular eyelid suture in the model group and acupuncture group. Acupuncture was applied at "Jingming" (BL 1), "Chengqi" (ST 1), "Qiuhou" (EX-HN 7) and "Cuanzhu" (BL 2) in the acupuncture group. The bilateral acupoints were selected alternately, one side for a day, and totally 14 days were required. The effect of acupuncture on visual evoked potential in different spatial frequencies was observed., Methods: Under three different kinds of spatial frequencies of 2 X 2, 4 X 4 and 8 X 8, compared with normal group, there was obvious visual deprivation effect in the model group where P1 peak latency was delayed (P<0.01) while N1 -P1 amplitude value was decreased (P<0.01). Compared with model group, P1 peak latency was obviously ahead of time (P<0.01) while N1-P1 amplitude value was increased (P<0.01) in the acupuncture group, there was no statistical significance compared with normal group (P>0.05). Under spatial frequency of 4 X 4, N1-P1 amplitude value was maximum in the normal group and acupuncture group. With this spatial frequency the rat's eye had best resolving ability, indicating it could be the best spatial frequency for rat visual system., Conclusion: The visual system has obvious electrophysiology plasticity in sensitive period. Acupuncture treatment could adjust visual deprivation-induced suppression and slow of visual response in order to antagonism deprivation effect.

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