Mechanism of Acupuncture and Moxibustion on Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome: A Narrative Review of Animal Studies

Table 1

Animal experimental research summary about the effect of acupuncture and moxibustion on CP/CPPS.

First/corresponding author	Animal/model/modeling time	Method	Acupoint	Stimulus parameters	Treatment course	Molecular and cellular results	Routine observation results
Hakan Akdere/İlhanÖztekin [31]	Male wistar rats; E2(0.25 mg/kg, sc) + DHT (0.25 mg/kg, sc);28 days	MA	CV3, CV4, BL32, BL35	Twisting the acupuncture needles at a frequency of once every 10 minutes. Then, the needles were retained for 60 min.	Three days a week, 6 weeks		Body weight
							Prostate weight
							Improve pain
							Improve
							prostate histopathology
Laixi Yi [19, 25, 42]	Male wistar rats; carrageenan (1%, 0.05 ml) injected into the prostate; 7 days	MA	BL54	The acupuncture needle points to the prostate area, depth 0.5–0.8 inches, twisting the acupuncture needles 10 min	Once a day 9 times	ET in prostate	Improve histopathology and ultrastructure of prostate the phagocytosis rate of neutrophils.Phagocytic index the local blood flow velocity and blood flow of prostate
Xingke Yan/Tianyou He [34]	SPF male SD rats; DPT vaccine (0.5 ml，ip) ＋ protein purification liquid (15 mg/ml, sc) ＋ CFA (sc); 45 days	MA	Jiayin 1 Jiayin 2 Zhongyin	Twisting the acupuncture needles at a frequency of 1 minute and at an angle of 180 for 1 min. Then, the needles were retained for 20 minutes	Once a day 10 days	COX-2 in prostate and hypothalamus	Improve histopathology of prostate and hypothalamus
Xingke Yan/Tianyou He [13, 19]	SPF male SD rats; DPT vaccine (0.5 ml，ip) ＋ protein purification liquid (15 mg/ml，sc) ＋ CFA (sc); 45 days	EA	Jiayin1 Jiayin2 Zhongyin	10 HZ The intensity was measured by tail vibration 20 min	Once a day 15 days	CD4^+/CD8 ^+and CD4 + in plasma IgG, IL-2, IL-8、INOS, TNF-α, MDA In prostate T-AOC in prostate	Prostate weight and index
Bo Yang/Qinghui Qi [36]	Male SD rats; DPT vaccine (0.5 ml，ip) ＋ protein purification liquid (15 mg/ml, sc) ＋ CFA (sc); 45 days	EA	BL29 BL35	4Hz/20 Hz 4–6V 20 min	Once a day 10 days	IL-1, PGE2, β-EP in prostate NGFmRNA in bladder detrusor is decreased	ICC cells IOD in bladder detrusor is increased
Wei Zhu/Qinghu He [30]	Male SD rats;E20.25 mg/kg(sc) after being castrated;30 days	EA	CV4, CV3, LR1, LR3, SP9	Continuous wave. The intensity was measured by tail vibration 20 min	Once every other day 15 times	TNF-α, IL-6, IL-8, β-EP, IL-10 in prostate	Improve prostate histopathology
Shilin Li [50]	Male wistar rats;E20.25 mg/kg(sc) after being castrated;30 days	MA	CV4, CV3, BL23, BL35, SP6	Twisting the acupuncture needles at a frequency of 100 times/min and at an angle of 180 for three min, twisting every 10 minutes, then, the needles were retained for 30 minutes	Once every day 5 days for a course 4 courses 2 days rest between course	IL-1β, TNF-α, MIF in prostate	Improve prostate histopathology
Tingting Liu/Weibing Gao [27]	Male wistar rats; Xiaozhiling (25%, 0.2 ml) injected into the prostate; 14 days	MA or EA	EA：BL23 BL35 MA：SP6 CV4, CV3	EA：2 Hz/100 Hz、2V、30 min. MA：Twisting the acupuncture needles at a frequency of 100 times/min and at an angle of 90–120 for 3 min, twisting every 10 minutes, then, the needles were retained for 30 minutes.	Once every day 5 days for a course 4 courses 1 day rest between course	TNF-α、IL-2 in serum ICAM-1 in prostate	Improve prostate histopathology
Yaodong Zhao [15, 32, 35]	Male wistar rats;Xiaozhiling (25%, 0.2 ml)injected into the prostate; 9 days	Warming-promotionneedling	CV4, CV2 LR2	The right thumb forward 9 times, then，heavy insertion and light lifting continuous 9 times the right thumb forward 9 times again, once every 15 min, 30 min	1 time every day 30 days	TNF-α, IL-βin serum IL-6, IL-2 in serum
Baowen Zhang [23, 26, 37]	Male wistar rats;Xiaozhiling (25%, 0.2 ml)injected into the prostate;7 days	Heat-gettingneedling	BL32	1-inch filiform needle needing downword with force, then, the needles were retained for 10 minutes	3 days, 6 days, 12 days	IL-2 in prostate T in In serum activity of Na^+-K^+-ATPase	Improve prostate histopathology
Bingcheng Hu/Zhenwang Ma [29]	Male wistar rats; DPT vaccine (0.5 ml，ip) ＋ protein purification liquid (15 mg/ml，sc) ＋ CFA (sc); 45 days	Shenhua thunder fire moxibustion	CV4, CV3, BL32, BL34	Moxibustion is away from the skin 2–3 cm 10 min	Once every day 28 days	IL-1β, TNF-α in prostate	Improve prostate histopathology
Shengjie Zhang/Jia Li [44]	SPF male SD rats;agar solution (2%, 0.1 ml);injected into the prostate	Acupoint catgut embedding	CV4 BL23	Once every week	4 weeks	IgG, Zn in prostate	The activity of rats is increased; the amount of drinking water is increased; the urine turbidity is decreased