This study showed that acupuncture not just activates inflammation-regulating pathways, tames cytokine storm in mice, but it also provided a critical step toward defining the neuroanatomical mechanisms underlying acupuncture.
The study was published in the medical journal “Neuron” on 12th of Aug. They showed that acupuncture activated different signaling pathways that triggered either a pro-inflammatory or an anti-inflammatory response in animals with bacterially induced systemic inflammation. In the study, acupuncture stimulation influenced how animals coped with cytokine storm—the rapid release of large amounts of cytokines, inflammation-fueling molecules. The phenomenon has gained mainstream attention as a complication of severe COVID-19.
The mice treated had less cytokine secretion and had greater survival; 60 percent of acupuncture-treated animals survived, compared with 20 percent of untreated animals. In another research the survival rate had increased from 20 to 80 percent.
The authors suggest that these findings are showing that acupuncture may be later utilized as a treatment of:
- adjunct therapy for sepsis in intensive care unit
- treatment of inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract
- help modulate in inflammation resulting from cancer immune therapy
Abstract edited and provided by Yair Maimon.
