Electroacupuncture may relieve polycystic ovary syndrome-like insulin resistance by restoring skeletal muscle cellular recycling processes and reducing metabolic stress.
Researchers induced polycystic ovary syndrome-like symptoms in rats using dehydroepiandrosterone, then treated them with electroacupuncture at two traditional acupuncture points over five weeks. A separate group received an autophagy-inhibiting drug before electroacupuncture to test whether cellular recycling activity was necessary for treatment effects. The investigators assessed insulin resistance, skeletal muscle autophagy, mitochondrial function, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and signalling through the mechanistic target of rapamycin pathway.
Electroacupuncture improved polycystic ovary syndrome-like features, insulin resistance, mitochondrial dysfunction, and endoplasmic reticulum stress while restoring impaired skeletal muscle autophagy. Blocking autophagy weakened these benefits, indicating that enhanced cellular recycling was a key mechanism. The treatment appeared to act partly by reducing activity in the mechanistic target of rapamycin and eukaryotic translation initiation factor four binding protein one signalling pathway.
