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Worldwide, the most prevalent metabolic disorder is diabetes mellitus (DM), an important condition that has been widely studied. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), a complication that can occur with DM, is associated with pain and can result in foot ulcers and even amputation. DPN treatments are limited and mainly focus on pain management. There is a clear need to develop treatments for DPN at all stages. To make this progress, it is necessary to understand the molecular signaling pathways related to DPN. For this review, we aimed to concentrate on the main signaling cascades that contribute to DPN. In addition, we provide information with regard to treatments that are being explored.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a chronic microvascular complication of diabetes. The purpose of this study is to find the underlying mechanism for the effects of acupuncture in DPN rats. Rats were rendered diabetic with a single injection of 35 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ). These STZ-diabetic rats were treated with acupuncture for 20 min once daily. The therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture was assessed using mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) evaluations. After 14 days treatment, acupuncture markedly reduced the pathological injury in STZ-diabetic rats. Moreover, it significantly down-regulated P2X4 and OX42 expression along with the reduced levels of inflammatory factors (CXCR3, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6), GSP and lipid metabolisms in the spinal cord of the DPN rats. Acupuncture could relieve DPN in rats by regulating P2X4 expression and inflammation in spinal microglia.

OBJECTIVE: To improve the pathophysiological understanding of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by exploring the gut-brain axis. BACKGROUND: Disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBIs) are gastrointestinal (GI) disorders in which alterations in bowel functions occur. IBS, which is one of the most studied DGBIs, is linked with abdominal distress or pain without obvious structural or biochemical anomalies. METHODS: The etiology of IBS has not been clearly described but is known to be multifactorial, involving GI motility changes, post-infectious reactivity, visceral hypersensitivity, gut-brain interactions, microbiota dysbiosis, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, food sensitivity, carbohydrate malabsorption, and intestinal inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: One of the main features of IBS is the occurrence of structural and functional disruptions in the gut-brain axis, which alter reflective and perceptual nervous system reactions. Herein, we provide a brief summary of this topic. Furthermore, we discuss animal models, which are important in the study of IBS, especially as it is linked with stressors. These animal models cannot fully represent the human disease but serve as important tools for understanding this complicated disorder. In the future, technologies, such as organ-on-a-chip models and metabolomics, will provide novel information regarding the pathophysiology of IBS, which will play an important role in treatment development. Finally, we take a brief glance at how acupuncture treatments may hold potential for patients with IBS.

BackgroundAim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of scalp, tongue, and Jin’s 3-needle acupuncture for the improvement of postapoplectic aphasia.MethodPubMed, Cochrane, Embase databases were searched using index words to identify qualifying randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Meta-analyses of odds ratios (OR) or standardized mean differences (SMD) were performed to evaluate the outcomes between investigational (scalp / tongue / Jin’s 3-needle acupuncture) and control (traditional acupuncture; TA and/or rehabilitation training; RT) groups.ResultsThirty-two RCTs (1310 participants in investigational group and 1270 in control group) were included. Compared to TA, (OR 3.05 [95% CI: 1.77, 5.28];ppp = 0.03) had significantly better total effective rate. Compared to RT, scalp acupuncture (OR 4.24 [95% CI: 1.68, 10.74];p = 0.002) and scalp acupuncture with tongue acupuncture (OR 7.36 [3.33, 16.23];pConclusionAs treatments to postapoplectic aphasia, scalp / tongue acupuncture and Jin’s Three-needling are found better than TA and/or RT in yielding total effective rate and improving ABC, oral expression, comprehension, reading and writing scores.

Additional file 1 : Table S1. Characteristics of the included studies. Figure S1. Forest graph showing the subgroup analyses of the SMDs in ABC scores between investigational and control groups. Figure S2. Forest plot of the score of comprehension in the investigational group compared to the control group in the subgroup analysis. Figure S3. Forest plot of the score of oral expression in the investigational group compared to the control group in the subgroup analysis. Figure S4. Forest plot of the score of repetition in the investigational group compared to the control group in the subgroup analysis. Figure S5. Forest plot of the score of denomination in the investigational group compared to the control group in the subgroup analysis. Figure S6. Forest plot of the score of reading in the investigational group compared to the control group in the subgroup analysis. Figure S7. Forest plot of the score of writing in the investigational group compared to the control group in the subgroup analysis. Appendix S1 (Literature search strategy)