Acupuncture for Parkinson’s Disease: Efficacy Evaluation and Mechanisms in the Dopaminergic Neural Circuit

Table 3

The neural circuit mechanisms of acupuncture for Parkinson’s disease in clinical researches.

Study	Clinical trial design	Clinical condition	Intervention	Comparison	Acupoints	Acupuncture parameters	Outcomes
Chae et al. (2009) [98]	Controlled trial	PD patients (mild)	Verum acupuncture ()	Covert placebo/overt placebo ()	Left GB34	10 mm, manually rotated clockwise and counterclockwise once per second (1 Hz), 60 seconds, then withdrawn for 120 seconds, only once	The putamen and the primary motor cortex↑, motor function↑ (VA vs. CP)
Yeo et al. (2012) [99]	RCT	Idiopathic PD patients	Acupuncture ()	Acupuncture on healthy participants ()	Right GB34	1 cm, remained in the skin for 1 min and rotated bidirectionally for 1 min, needle remained in the skin without rotation for 1 min and then the pattern of 1 min rotation and 1 min rest was repeated, only once	Neural responses in the SN, caudate, thalamus, and putamen (impaired caused by PD)↑
Yeo et al. (2014) [100]	RCT	Idiopathic PD patients	Acupuncture ()	Acupuncture on healthy participants ()	Right GB34	1 cm, for “stimulated” blocks: rotated bidirectionally at 1 Hz; for “not stimulated” blocks: the needle was only inserted into the skin and then left in place, only once	Neural responses in the prefrontal cortex, precentral gyrus, and putamen in PD patients↑
Li et al. (2018) [101]	Controlled trial	PD patients with tremor	Acupuncture+L-DOPA ()	Sham acupuncture+L-DOPA ()	DU20, bilateral GB20, and the chorea-tremor controlled zone	2-3 cm, reinforcing-reducing method, twirling every 10 minutes, 30 minutes, twice weekly, 12 weeks	Clinical evaluation: UPDRS (II and III) scores↓, neural responses (SN, caudate, thalamus, and putamen)↑
Huang et al. (2010) [102]	RCT	PD patients	Acupuncture+L-DOPA ()	L-DOPA ()	Bilateral MS6, MS4, MS8, MS9, MS14	Continuous wave, 50 Hz, 2-4 mA, 30 minutes, six times a week, 5 weeks	rCBF (the frontal lobe, the occipital lobe, the basal ganglion, and the cerebellum in the most affected hemisphere)↑
Huang et al. (2009) [103]	RCT	PD patients	Acupuncture+Madopar ()	Madopar ()	Bilateral MS6, MS4, MS8, MS9, MS14	Continuous wave, 50 Hz, 2–4 mA, 30 minutes, six times a week, 5 weeks	The glucose metabolisms (parietal, temporal, occipital lobes, the thalamus, and the cerebellum in the light-diseased hemisphere, and in parietal and occipital lobes of the severe-diseased hemisphere)↑

PD: Parkinson’s disease; GB34: Yanglingquan; VA: verum acupuncture; CP: covert placebo; RCT: randomized controlled trial; SN: substantia nigra; L-DOPA: levodopa; DU20: Baihui; GB20: Fengchi; UPDRS: Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale; MS6: the anterior oblique line of the vertex to temple; MS4: the lateral line III on forehead; MS8: the lateral line I of the vertex; MS9: the lateral line II of the vertex; MS14: the lower-lateral line of the occipital scalp; rCBF: regional cerebral blood flow.