ArticleNeural plasticity2022
Combined-Acupoint Electroacupuncture Induces Better Analgesia via Activating the Endocannabinoid System in the Spinal Cord.
Article in Neural plasticity, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Progress in pain mechanisms and management.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Article
- Magnetoencephalography study of the Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture during acupuncture and language task states in healthy volunteers: a single-blind, randomized, sham-controlled trial protocol.Frontiers in neurology · 2026Article
- Electroacupuncture alleviates capsaicin-induced rectal visceral pain in rats via inhibiting TRPV1 expression by blocking the P2X4R-activated p38 pathway.Purinergic signalling · 2025Article
- Accurate Chemogenetics Determines Electroacupuncture Analgesia Through Increased CB1 to Suppress the TRPV1 Pathway in a Mouse Model of Fibromyalgia.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The analgesic mechanism of electroacupuncture at the central level for neuropathic pain: a review of studies based on animal experiments.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- The Analgesic Effect of NLRP3 Inflammasome in the Relief of Inflammatory Pain by Electroacupuncture: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Animal Studies.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- Effects of Electroacupuncture at Varied Frequencies on Analgesia and Mechanisms in Sciatic Nerve Cuffing-Induced Neuropathic Pain Mice.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2024Article
- Hemoglobin α-derived peptides VD-hemopressin (α) and RVD-hemopressin (α) are involved in electroacupuncture inhibition of chronic pain.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Sciatic Nerve Block Combined with Flurbiprofen Inhibits Spinal Cord Inflammation and Improves Postoperative Pain in Rats with Plantar Incision.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
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
Electroacupuncture (EA) therapy has been widely reported to alleviate neuropathic pain with few side effects in both clinical practice and animal studies worldwide. However, little is known about the comparison of the therapeutic efficacy among the diverse EA schemes used for neuropathic pain. The present study is aimed at investigating the therapeutic efficacy discrepancy between the single and combined-acupoint EA and to reveal the difference of mechanisms behind them. Electroacupuncture was given at both Zusanli (ST36) and Huantiao (GB30) in the combined group or ST36 alone in the single group. Paw withdrawal mechanical threshold (PWMT) was measured to determine the pain level. Electrophysiology was performed to detect the effects of EA on synaptic transmission in the spinal dorsal horn of the vGlut2-tdTomato mice. Spinal contents of endogenous opioids, endocannabinoids, and their receptors were examined. Inhibitors of CBR (cannabinoid receptor) and opioid receptors were used to study the roles of opioid and endocannabinoid system (ECS) in EA analgesia. We found that combined-acupoint acupuncture provide stronger analgesia than the single group did, and the former inhibited the synaptic transmission at the spinal level to a greater extent than later. Besides, the high-intensity stimulation at ST36 or normal stimulation at two sham acupoints did not mimic the similar efficacy of analgesia in the combined group. Acupuncture stimulation in single and combined groups both activated the endogenous opioid system. The ECS was only activated in the combined group. Naloxone totally blocked the analgesic effect of single-acupoint EA; however, it did not attenuate that of combined-acupoint EA unless coadministered with CBR antagonists. Hence, in the CCI-induced neuropathic pain model, combined-acupoint EA at ST36 and GB30 is more effective in analgesia than the single-acupoint EA at ST36. EA stimulation at GB30 alone neither provided a superior analgesic effect to EA treatment at ST36 nor altered the content of AEA, 2-AG, CB1 receptor, or CB2 receptor compared with the CCI group. Activation of the ECS is the main contributor of the better analgesia by the combined acupoint stimulation than that induced by single acupoint stimulation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.