Electroacupuncture improved metabolic and reproductive features of polycystic ovary syndrome-like rats primarily through fat tissue remodeling, with limited gut microbiota changes.
Researchers induced polycystic ovary syndrome-like features in rats using dihydrotestosterone, then provided daily electroacupuncture at two traditional body points. They compared treated rats with untreated syndrome-model rats and healthy controls, assessing body and fat tissue measures, brown fat, hormone levels, glucose handling, reproductive cycling, and fecal microbial composition.
Electroacupuncture reduced body weight and visceral and subcutaneous fat, increased brown fat, improved glucose tolerance, normalized reproductive hormone patterns, and restored more regular reproductive cycles. Gut microbial communities changed little overall, although two weight-associated bacterial groups differed after treatment, suggesting that adipose tissue regulation was the dominant mechanism.
