Cerebral Responses to Acupuncture at GV24 and Bilateral GB13 in Rat Models of Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Acupuncture has been widely used in China to treat neurological diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, its mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, eighty healthy Wistar rats were divided into a normal control group (n = 15) and premodel group (n = 65). Forty-five rats that met the criteria for the AD model were then randomly divided into the model group (MG), the nonacupoint group (NG), and the acupoint group (AG). All rats received positron emission tomography (PET) scanning, and the images were analyzed with Statistical Parametric Mapping 8.0. MG exhibited hypometabolism in the olfactory bulb, insular cortex, orbital cortex, prelimbic cortex, striatum, parietal association cortex, visual cortex, cingulate gyrus, and retrosplenial cortex. AG exhibited prominent and extensive hypermetabolism in the thalamus, hypothalamus, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, cerebral peduncle, midbrain tegmentum, and pontine tegmentum compared to NG. These results demonstrated that acupuncturing at GV24 and bilateral GB13 acupoints may improve the learning and memory abilities of the AD rats, probably via altering cerebral glucose metabolism (CGM) in the hypothalamus, thalamus, and brain stem. The observed effects of acupuncture may be caused by regulating the distribution of certain kinds of neurotransmitters and enhancing synaptic plasticity.

Electroacupuncture at GV24 and bilateral GB13 improves cognitive ability via influences the levels of Aβ, p-tau (s396) and p-tau (s404) in the hippocampus of Alzheimer’s disease model rats

“…But there is no research directly compared the combination of these two modeling methods with use of them individually. Although our previous findings demonstrated that the intrahippocampal injection of Aβ1-40 combining intraperitoneal injection of D-gal did successfully simulate Alzheimer’s disease-like behavior changes [ 13 , 23 ], but we cannot distinguish which modeling method contributed more to the change of the Aβ and p-tau level in the brain as well as cognitive dysfunctions in behavior test.…”

“…1 b) or at nonacupoints (nonacupoint group) by the same acupuncturist. The electroacupuncture and nonacupoint locations were the same as those reported in our previous study [ 13 ]. Sterilized stainless disposable needles (25 mm in length, 0.35 mm in diameter; Suzhou Medical Appliance Factory, China) were inserted 2 mm into the GV24 and bilateral GB13 acupoints or the nonacupoints and then connected to an electronic acupuncture treatment instrument (Hans Acupoint Nerve Stimulator 200E, Nanjing Jisheng Medical Technology Co., Ltd., China).…”

“…GV24 and bilateral GB13 acupoints are important when treating cognitive disorders according to TCM [ 12 ]. We previously found that performing acupuncture at these three acupoints may improve learning and memory abilities in Alzheimer’s disease rats by changing brain glucose metabolism in the hypothalamus, thalamus and brainstem [ 13 ]. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether electroacupuncture at GV24 and bilateral GB13 acupoints could improve the learning and memory by modulate the levels of p-tau (s396), p-tau (s404) and Aβ in the hippocampus.…”

Acupuncture Improves White Matter Perfusion and Integrity in Rat Model of Vascular Dementia: An MRI-Based Imaging Study

“…The white matter abnormality may result in the decreased functional connectivity or the rearrangement of local cognitive networks. Previous studies prove that these functional networks could be considered neuroimaging evidence of acupuncture effects on cognitive function ( Dhond et al, 2008 ; Qiu et al, 2010 ; Cui et al, 2018 ; Wen et al, 2018 ). Therefore, future studies aiming at structure and function changes and their interaction will help uncover the mechanism of acupuncture.…”

Effects of Acupuncture on Neurological Disease in Clinical- and Animal-Based Research

“…As a consequence, glucose metabolism is especially important for maintaining the normal function of the brain, especially cognitive-related functions. Acupuncture improved the learning and memory abilities of AD rats by needling GV24 and bilateral GB13 acupoints (Cui et al, 2018). Furthermore, positron emission tomography (PET) study showed that acupuncture by needling in AD rats could significantly increase the rate of glucose metabolism in the hypothalamus, thalamus, and brain stem.…”