Insights & Discussion
Acupuncture, as an adjuvant therapy or monotherapy, can protect and restore dopaminergic neurons, bearing positive implications for the Parkinson's disease treatment.
Methodologically, animal studies were used to investigate the effects of acupuncture treatment on Parkinson's disease. An examination was conducted to see if the treatment was neuroprotective, if it could protect dopaminergic neurons from degeneration, and restorative, if it could restore tyrosine hydroxylase positive dopaminergic terminals in the striatum. These pathways were monitored at both molecular and cellular levels. The research also looked into whether the protection was mediated through the same mechanisms as other neuroprotective agents such as anti-oxidative stress, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic pathways.
The results indicated that acupuncture was not only neuroprotective and restorative, but also seen to improve motor performance in animal models of Parkinsonism. The protective effect appeared to be mediated through common mechanisms of other neuroprotective agents, while restoration of function involved activation of certain compensatory brain regions to correct the imbalances stemming from the loss of dopaminergic neurons. Furthermore, clinical studies in China and Korea depicted a positive impact of acupuncture in treating Parkinson's disease, specifically by reducing the dosage of dopaminergic medications and the associated side effects.
Discover Related Insights
Acupuncture may be a clinically effective and safe treatment for Parkinson's disease.
2020 Frontiers in Neurology Effectiveness of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease: An Overview of Systematic Reviews Huang J, Qin X, Cai X and Huang Y
Review Article Acupuncture Musculoskeletal Parkinson's Disease
In this study, a thorough search was done in eight different databases to find systematic reviews and meta-analyses that investigated the potential benefits of acupuncture for treating Parkinson's disease. The methodological quality of these collected reviews was assessed using the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 checklist, and the quality of the evidence provided by the reviews was evaluated with the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation criteria.
Of the 11 reviews analysed, all were regarded as very low-quality studies on the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews 2 checklist. However, despite the limited quality, these reviews provide a narrative analysis that suggests acupuncture may offer a safe and effective treatment for Parkinson's disease. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation scale categorized the evidence quality as very low to moderate. Despite the overall low evidence and methodological quality, it is highlighted that acupuncture may still hold potential as a treatment option for Parkinson's disease. It's also noted that the results should be interpreted with caution due to the low quality of the studies included.
Depressed patients who received acupuncture treatment showed a significantly lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease.
2020 Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience Acupuncture Treatment Reduces Incidence of Parkinson's Disease in Patients With Depression: A Population-Based Retrospective Cohort Study in Taiwan Huang CH, Lin MC, Hsieh CL
Cohort Study Acupuncture Depression Parkinson's Disease
The study was retrospective in nature and was based on data sourced from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. An equal number of patients (9,189), with and without acupuncture treatment, were selected from the total 48,981 patients newly diagnosed with depression between 2000 and 2012. These study participants were matched 1:1 using the propensity score method. The incidence of Parkinson's disease in these two groups was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method and the difference was examined with a log-rank test. The severity of depression and specific acupoints used were not indicated.
The results indicated a significantly lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease in patients who had undergone acupuncture treatment. Differences in age, sex, insurance amount, geographic region, urbanization levels, comorbidities, and drugs were taken into account. The cumulative effect was such that the incidence was significantly lower in the acupuncture cohort as compared to the non-acupuncture cohort.
Most studies suggest that acupuncture can modulate the activity within specific brain areas, and the evidence based on meta-analyses confirmed some of these results.
2012 PLOS One Characterizing Acupuncture Stimuli Using Brain Imaging with fMRI - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Literature Huang, W., Pach, D., Napadow, V., et al.
Systematic Review Acupuncture fMRI Study
Brain response to acupuncture stimuli encompasses a broad network of regions consistent with not just somatosensory, but also affective and cognitive processing. While published results on acupuncture and fMRI were heterogeneous, from a descriptive perspective most studies suggest that acupuncture can modulate the brain activity within specific brain areas, and the evidence based on meta-analyses confirmed part of these results. Future studies should further improve methodological aspects and reporting related to both fMRI and acupuncture, and strictly control experimental conditions for more robust inference. Specifically, direct contrast analyses should be used to contrast different stimulus conditions (e.g. verum versus sham acupuncture) when evaluating research questions concerning acupuncture specificity.