Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
College of Acu-moxibustion and Massage, Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang 712046, China.
Behav Neurol. 2020 Jan 2;2020:2893289. doi: 10.1155/2020/2893289. eCollection 2020.
As one of the most important therapies in complementary and alternative medicine, acupuncture has been used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Acupuncture of "olfactory three-needle" manipulation can improve the cognitive ability of AD patients. However, the mechanism of "olfactory three-needle" in AD remains largely unknown. Here, we identified that the "olfactory three-needle" therapy and eugenol olfactory stimulation both reduced the deposition of -amyloid (A) protein and increased the expression of synaptophysin (SYP), but only the "olfactory three-needle" enhanced the spatial learning and memory ability of SAMP8. Remarkably, the "olfactory three-needle" inhibited the phosphorylation of p38MAPK and the excessive activation of microglia (MG) in the hippocampus. Our study demonstrates that the "olfactory three-needle" enhances spatial learning and memory ability by inhibiting the phosphorylation of p38MAPK and the excessive activation of MG to reduce the neuroinflammatory response and neurotoxicity of A and promote synaptic regeneration, but it was not completely consistent with the stimulation of the olfactory system.
作为补充和替代医学中最重要的疗法之一，针灸已被用于治疗阿尔茨海默病（AD）。“嗅三针”针刺操作可以提高 AD 患者的认知能力。然而，AD 中“嗅三针”的机制在很大程度上仍然未知。在这里，我们发现“嗅三针”疗法和丁香酚嗅觉刺激均能减少β-淀粉样蛋白（A）蛋白的沉积并增加突触小体相关蛋白（SYP）的表达，但只有“嗅三针”增强了 SAMP8 的空间学习和记忆能力。值得注意的是，“嗅三针”抑制了海马 p38MAPK 的磷酸化和小胶质细胞（MG）的过度激活。我们的研究表明，“嗅三针”通过抑制 p38MAPK 的磷酸化和过度激活 MG 来减轻 A 的神经炎症反应和神经毒性，促进突触再生，从而增强空间学习和记忆能力，但与嗅觉系统的刺激不完全一致。
