ReviewBMC complementary and alternative medicine2017
What intrinsic factors influence responsiveness to acupuncture in pain?: a review of pre-clinical studies that used responder analysis.
Review in BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of acupuncture for primary osteoporosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Pooled it
- Identifying patients with chronic pain who respond to acupuncture: results from an individual patient data meta-analysis.Acupuncture in medicine : journal of the British Medical Acupuncture Society · 2021Pooled it
- Effectiveness of electroacupuncture as a treatment for osteoporosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Medicine · 2021Pooled it
- Comparing 2-Hz and 100-Hz Electroacupuncture for Postoperative Musculoskeletal Pain: Protocol for a 2 × 2 Prospective Randomized Crossover Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Assessing the Modulatory Effects of tDCS and Acupuncture on Cerebral Blood Flow in Chronic Low Back Pain Using Arterial Spin Labeling Perfusion Imaging.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Beyond Needling: Integrating a Bayesian Brain Model into Acupuncture Treatment.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Acupuncture Therapy for Extremity Musculoskeletal Pain: A Clinically Focused Evidence Synthesis with Therapeutic Implications.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- Neurogenic Hypotension and Bradycardia Modulated by Electroacupuncture in Hypothalamic Paraventricular Nucleus.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation Combined With Auricular Acupressure Reduces Postoperative Delirium Among Elderly Patients Following Major Abdominal Surgery: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Article
- Perioperative acupuncture medicine: a novel concept instead of acupuncture anesthesia.Chinese medical journal · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundNot many studies have investigated individual sensitivity to acupuncture. To explore the intrinsic factors related to individual responses to acupuncture, we reviewed published pre-clinical studies using responder analysis on pain.
methodsWe searched the PubMed and EMBASE databases to June 2015. We included pre-clinical reports describing responders and non-responders to anti-nociceptive and analgesic effects of acupuncture in animal study. We identified the potential intrinsic factors which might be related with the response to acupuncture.
resultsTotally, 216 potentially relevant articles were retrieved and 14 studies met our inclusion criteria. Rat (n = 1348) and rabbit (n = 56) were used, and only electroacupuncture (EA) was applied as an intervention. Results showed that high levels of cholecystokinin-8 and receptors were associated with poor responsiveness to EA. Endogenous opioids including β-endorphin and met-enkephalin, descending inhibitory norepinephrine and serotonin system, and hypothalamic 5'-AMP-activated protein kinase seemed to be associated with high-level responses. Spinal levels of neurotransmitters and pro-inflammatory cytokines were also differentially expressed depending on the EA sensitiveness. In the central nervous system, hypothalamus, periaqueductal grey, pituitary gland, and spinal cord were suggested to be involved in the EA responsiveness. Identified individual variations did not seem to be accidental, as the responsiveness to EA was replicated over time. However, methodological issues such as reproducibility, cut-off criteria, and clinical relevance need to be further elaborated.
conclusionOur study suggests that the identification of the biological factors differentiating responders from non-responders is necessary and it may aid in understanding how acupuncture modulates pain.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.