Acupuncture may alleviate depression-like behaviour by simultaneously restoring brain chemical balance, neural connectivity, energy function, inflammation, and stress-hormone regulation.
The review searched three biomedical databases for laboratory studies published from 2020 through mid-June 2024 that examined acupuncture treatments in rodent models of depression. It included studies using electrical stimulation acupuncture, manual acupuncture, and implanted thread stimulation, and compared their effects on biological markers relevant to depression.
Across rodent studies, acupuncture, particularly electrical stimulation acupuncture, improved depression-like behaviours alongside changes in serotonin, glutamate, and dopamine signalling. Reported effects included strengthened synaptic plasticity and synaptic protein expression, improved mitochondrial repair, reduced oxidative stress, suppression of inflammatory signalling, regulation of stress-axis activity, and altered tryptophan metabolism.
