Signal Transduction Pathways of Acupuncture for Treating Some Nervous System Diseases

Table 6

Signal transduction pathways of acupuncture in treating vascular dementia.

Subjects	Location	Acupoint	Intervention	Time of intervention	Signal pathway	Main results	Author, reference
Male, Wistar rats, homologous blood emboli injection of internal carotid artery	hippocampus	ST36	MA	QD for 14 days	activation of cAMP/PKA/CREB pathway	activation of long-term potentiation	Li QQ, et al. 2015[47]
Male, SD rats, MCAO	hippocampus	GV24, GV20	EA, 1-3mA, 5/20Hz	30min, QD	increase expression of p-CREB	elevation of superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase, Bcl-2; depression of malondialdehyde, Bcl2-xl; anti-oxidase and anti-apoptosis	Lin R, et al. 2015[48]
Female, SD rats, MCAO	hippocampus	GV20, GV24	EA, 1/20Hz	30min, QD for 7 days	inactivation of CaM-CaMKIV-CREB pathway	anti-apoptosis	Zhang Y, et al. 2016[50]
Male, SD rats, MCAO	hippocampus	GV20, HT7	MA, LA, 30 mW, 100Hz	14 days	enhance cholinergic system	elevation of CREB, BDNF and Bcl-2; depression of Bax; anti-apoptosis	Yun YC, et al. 2017[51]
Mongolian gerbils, CCAO	hippocampal CA1	KI3, GV20	EA, 1mA, 2Hz	20 min, 4 times/ 2 days	regulate MAPK/ERK pathway	elevation of p-ERK; depression of ionized calcium-binding adaptor molecule 1, TLR4, TNF-α; decrease neuroinflammation, regulate the synaptic plasticity	Yang EJ, et al. 2016[153]
Male Wistar rats, two-vessel occlusion model	hippocampus	GV20, ST36	MA	QD for 14 days	inactivation of ASK1-JNK/p38 pathway	elevation of thioredoxin-1 and thioredoxin reductase-1; anti-oxidase and anti-apoptosis	Zhu W, et al. 2018[154]
Male, Wistar rat, homoblood injection	hippocampal CA1	CV17, CV12, CV6, ST36, SP10	MA, 2Hz	30sec for each acupoint, QD, 6 days/ wk for 3 weeks	balance Bcl-2 and Bax expression	elevation of Bcl-2; depression of Bax; anti-apoptosis	Wang T, et al. 2009[155]
Male, SD rat, using modified Pulsinelli 4-vessel-occlusion method	hippocampal CA1	Scalp-acupuncture	MA	30min, QD for 10 days	activation of Bcl-2 pathway	elevation of Bcl-2; anti-apoptosis of astrocytes	Tian WJ, et al. 2015[156]
Female, SD rat, CCAO	hippocampus	GV20, GV14, BL23	EA, 2mA, 4Hz	30min, QD for 30 days	activation of mTOR pathway	elevation of mTOR and eIF4E; modulates cell growth, proliferation and synaptic plasticity	Zhu Y, et al. 2013[157]

Abbreviations
ASK1: apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1; Bax: Bcl-2 associated X; Bcl-2: B-cell lymphoma 2; BDNF: brain-derived neurotrophic factor; CaMK: Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase; cAMP: cyclic adenosine monophosphate; CCAO: occlusion of common carotid artery; CREB: phosphorylated cyclic AMP response element-binding protein; EA: electroacupuncture; eIF4E: eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E; ERK: extracellular signal-regulated kinase; JNK: c-Jun N-terminal kinases; MA: manual acupuncture; MAPK: mitogen-activated protein kinases; MCAO: occlusion of middle cerebral artery; mTOR: mammalian target of rapamycin; PKA: protein kinase A; QD: daily; TLR4: Toll-like receptor 4.