ReviewNeural plasticity2021
Acupuncture for Parkinson's Disease: Efficacy Evaluation and Mechanisms in the Dopaminergic Neural Circuit.
Review in Neural plasticity, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
40 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy of various acupuncture modalities on alleviating symptoms in Parkinson's disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025Pooled it
- Usage, anti-inflammatory effect and safety of adjunctive acupuncture for cerebral infarction: an Apriori algorithm-based data mining and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Qihuang Needle Therapy for Motor Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society · 2026Trial
- Acupuncture Is Effective at Reducing the Risk of Stroke in Patients with Migraines: A Real-World, Large-Scale Cohort Study with 19-Years of Follow-Up.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Trial
- Acupuncture for Early Parkinson's Motor Symptoms: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial Protocol.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Article
- Multi-omics identification of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets for Parkinson's disease: from transcriptome to drug interaction.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2026Article
- Bilirubin in Parkinson's disease: pathogenic mechanisms and therapeutic potentials.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Review
- Evaluating Feature-Based Homography Pipelines for Dual-Camera Registration in Acupoint Annotation.Journal of imaging · 2025Article
- Understanding the role of microglia in Alzheimer's disease: insights into mechanisms, acupuncture, and potential therapeutic targets.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2025Review
- Integrative Postural Rehabilitation for Kyphotic Deformity in a Patient with Parkinson's Disease: A Case Report and Literature Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Clinical efficacy and potential mechanisms of acupuncture for Parkinson's disease: the role of GABAergic signaling.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Electroacupuncture alleviates Parkinson's disease by targeting HDAC/SIRT-mediated deacetylation of 14-3-3.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- Analysis of patellar reflex in Parkinson disease patients after an acupuncture treatment protocol - Case series study.Clinical parkinsonism & related disorders · 2025Article
- Contribution of dopaminergic polymorphisms to levodopa treatment response and drug concentration in Chinese patients with Parkinson's disease.Clinical parkinsonism & related disorders · 2025Article
- Shared and distinct brain activation patterns of acupoints HT7, ST36, and KI4: a task-based fMRI study.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture alleviates Parkinson's disease by inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome pathway.American journal of translational research · 2025Article
- Acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy for sleep fragmentation in Parkinson's disease: a pilot study based on polysomnography.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Reducing Parkinson's disease incidence in patients with insomnia through acupuncture: A cohort study.Integrative medicine research · 2024Article
- Central Role of Hypothalamic Circuits for Acupuncture's Anti-Parkinsonian Effects.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2024Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Existing pharmaceutical treatments offer alleviation of symptoms but cannot delay disease progression and are often associated with significant side effects. Clinical studies have demonstrated that acupuncture may be beneficial for PD treatment, particularly in terms of ameliorating PD symptoms when combined with anti-PD medication, reducing the required dose of medication and associated side effects. During early stages of PD, acupuncture may even be used to replace medication. It has also been found that acupuncture can protect dopaminergic neurons from degeneration via antioxidative stress, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic pathways as well as modulating the neurotransmitter balance in the basal ganglia circuit. Here, we review current studies and reflect on the potential of acupuncture as a novel and effective treatment strategy for PD. We found that particularly during the early stages, acupuncture may reduce neurodegeneration of dopaminergic neurons and regulate the balance of the dopaminergic circuit, thus delaying the progression of the disease. The benefits of acupuncture will need to be further verified through basic and clinical studies.
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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.