Role of Acupuncture in the Management of Severe Acquired Brain Injuries (sABIs)

Abstract

Acupuncture therapy has been used to treat several disorders in Asian countries and its use is increasing in Western countries as well. Current literature assessed the safety and efficacy of acupuncture in the acute management and rehabilitation of patients with neurologic disorders. In this paper, the role of acupuncture in the treatment of acute severe acquired brain injuries is described, acting on neuroinflammation, intracranial oedema, oxidative stress, and neuronal regeneration. Moreover, beneficial effects of acupuncture on subacute phase and chronic outcomes have been reported in controlling the imbalance of IGF-1 hormone and in decreasing spasticity, pain, and the incidence of neurovegetative crisis. Moreover, acupuncture may have a positive action on the arousal recovery. Further work is needed to understand the effects of specific acupoints on the brain. Allegedly concurrent neurophysiological measurements (e.g., EEG) may help in studying acupuncture-related changes in central nervous system activity and determining its potential as an add-on rehabilitative treatment for patients with consciousness disorders.

Electroacupuncture improves TBI dysfunction by targeting HDAC overexpression and BDNF-associated Akt/GSK-3β signaling

“…In the behavioral tests, TBI was followed by five days of once-daily EA treatment administered at specific acupoints (LI4 and LI11) that are believed to facilitate recovery from TBI, or at locations that are deemed to have no such effects (non-acupoints) ( Wong et al, 2012 ; Wolf et al, 2015 ; Cavalli et al, 2018 ). On Days 1, 3, 7, 10, and 14, the mice underwent behavioral testing.…”

Editorial: Therapeutic relevance and mechanisms of neuro-immune communication in brain injury

“…The neuroprotective mechanisms of acupuncture for brain injury have been relatively well studied. In the traumatic brain injury model, researchers found that acupuncture inhibits M1 polarization of microglia by regulating RhoA/ROCK2 and TLR4/TRIF/MyD88 signaling pathways, thereby mitigating neuroinflammation in the acute, subacute, and chronic phases after TBI (Cavalli et al, 2018 ; Zhu et al, 2020 ; Cao et al, 2022 ). In stroke, electric acupuncture increases miR-223 and α7nAChR protein levels, inhibits NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and alleviates neuroinflammation (Jiang et al, 2019 ; Sha et al, 2019 ; Xin et al, 2022 ).…”

Influence Factors of the Pharmacokinetics of Herbal Resourced Compounds in Clinical Practice

“…Acupuncture is a traditional therapy and has been used in China for thousands of years. It is always applied by inserting thin needles into specific points, which is called “acupoints”, of the body of people being treated and then rolling the needles manually or simulating by electricity [ 126 , 127 ]. Due to the oddity of its theory and operation method, it was considered to be a Chinese equivalent of voodoo decades ago [ 128 ].…”