Some studies have proved that both acupuncture and moxibustion are very effective for the treatment of CAG. However, little is known about therapeutic mechanism of electro-acupuncture and moxibustion on CAG as well as the difference between them. On the other hand, metabolomics is a ‘top-down’ approach to understand metabolic changes of organisms caused by disease or interventions in holistic context, which consists with the holistic thinking of electro-acupuncture and moxibustion treatment. In this study, the difference of therapeutic mechanism between electro-acupuncture and moxibustion on CAG rats was investigated by a 1H NMR-based metabolomics analysis of multiple biological samples (serum, stomach, cerebral cortex and medulla) coupled with pathological examination and molecular biological assay. For all sample types, both electro-acupuncture and moxibustion intervention showed beneficial effects by restoring many CAG-induced metabolic changes involved in membrane metabolism, energy metabolism and function of neurotransmitters. Notably, the moxibustion played an important role in CAG treatment mainly by regulating energy metabolism in serum, while main acting site of electro-acupuncture treatment was nervous system in stomach and brain. These findings are helpful to facilitate the therapeutic mechanism elucidating of electro-acupuncture and moxibustion on CAG rats. Metabolomics is promising in mechanisms study for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

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Studies have shown that acupuncture is very effective in treating chronic stress depression. However, little is known about the therapeutic mechanism of electro-acupuncture. Metabolomics, on the other hand, is a technology that determines the metabolic changes of organisms caused by various interventions as a whole and is related to the overall effect of electro-acupuncture (EA). 1 HNMR, serum sample analysis, and histopathology and molecular biology analysis were used to evaluate the effects of EA. The results show that electro-acupuncture points can regulate the heat pain threshold of chronic stress model rats and change the morphology of adrenal cortex cells Structure, and regulate the contents of corticotropin-releasing hormone, Corticosterone (CORT), glucose, alanine and valine in the samples. These findings help to clarify the therapeutic mechanism of electro-acupuncture on heterologous chronic stress model rats. The effect of electro-acupuncture on improving chronic stress is likely to be achieved by regulating glucose metabolism, which can provide a reference for clinical acupuncture treatment of chronic stress depression. With the rapid development of the economy and society, everyone faces a stressful environment in daily life. Stress is a systemic, non-specific, adaptive response to any physiological or psychological stimulus that disrupts persistent homeostasis 1. The effect of stress on the body seems to depend on the duration, not the intensity of external or internal stress stimuli 2. The introduction of unpredictable factors makes it difficult for individuals to adapt to stressors. Therefore, chronic stress may induce and aggravate damage to tissues and organs 3. Chronic stress is an important risk factor for depression 4. Despite some findings about chronic stress, we still lack effective clinical treatments. Acupuncture is the most popular adjuvant and alternative therapy in China, and it has been used for thousands of years 5. Electro-acupuncture is an innovation of traditional Chinese acupuncture, which improves the clinical effect by transmitting electrical pulses to the needle 6. Studies show that acupuncture has been used as an alternative therapy for depression in clinical practice 7-9. Acupuncture can help reduce chronic stress-like behaviour by regulating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function 10. However, it cannot reflect the biological state and regulatory function of the entire human body after external stimulation. At present, there are few studies on chronic stress-induced dysfunction in EA, and empirical evidence is lacking. Therefore, it is important to study the effects of EA on the mechanism of chronic stress effects. Metabolomics can simultaneously monitor and evaluate changes in the metabolic spectrum caused by changes in disease and other stimuli in a holistic context. It can be characterised in a timely and sensitive manner 11,12. This provides a good technical means for us to study the mechanism of chronic stress and the intervention effect of electro-acupunctu...

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Background: It is well known that gastric mucosa dysplasia and intestinal metaplasia are gastric precancerous lesions (GPL).