ReviewChinese medicine2023
The neuroprotective and neural circuit mechanisms of acupoint stimulation for cognitive impairment.
Review in Chinese medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of acupuncture on mild cognitive impairment via the microbiota-gut-brain axis: a systematic review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- From Tradition to Innovation: Acupuncture Therapies Targeting Ferroptosis in Neurological Disorders.Brain and behavior · 2025Pooled it
- Acupuncture combined with language training for aphasia in children with cerebral palsy: a systematic review with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Acupuncture for patients with mild cognitive impairment: a randomized, patient-assessor-blinded, sham-controlled pilot study.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Trial
- Advances in electroacupuncture for perioperative neurocognitive disorders: mechanisms and clinical evidence.Chinese medicine · 2026Review
- Clinical outcomes associated with Korean medicine home-visit care for patients with cognitive impairment: a multi-center retrospective observational study.Scientific reports · 2026Observational
- New perspective on acupuncture treatment for obesity: mechanisms in the brain based on multidimensional neural circuits.American journal of translational research · 2026Review
- TNEA Regulates Hippocampal Oscillation by Improving Inhibitory Synaptic Plasticity to Ameliorates Cognitive Impairment in Alzheimer's Disease.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Acupressure Potentially Promoting the Learning and Memory Capabilities of Hypoxic Ischemic Cerebral Palsy Rats.Neural plasticity · 2026Article
- Tuina ameliorates sleep disturbances in PCPA-treated rats through Piezo1-mediated calcium signaling.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Efficacy of acupoint injection of recombinant human erythropoietin in the treatment of postoperative hemorrhagic anemia in elderly patients with femoral intertrochanteric fracture.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2025Article
- Neural Mechanism of Cognitive Reserve in Acupuncture Stimulation: Protocol for a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Glymphatic system dysfunction in cerebral infarction: advances and perspectives based on DTI-derived ALPS measures.American journal of translational research · 2025Review
- Research status and trends of functional magnetic resonance imaging technology in the field of acupuncture: a bibliometric analysis over the past two decades.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Role of Neural Circuits in Cognitive Impairment.Neurochemical research · 2024Review
- Acupuncture improves spatial learning and memory impairment caused by herpes simplex virus type-1 in rats through the p38 MAPK/CREB pathway.The journal of physiological sciences : JPS · 2024Article
- The mechanistic effects of acupuncture in rodent neurodegenerative disease models: a literature review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Anti-oxidative-initiated cognitive impairment amelioration in Alzheimer's disease model rats through preventive transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation.Integrative medicine research · 2023Article
- Acupuncture and moxibustion therapy for cognitive impairment: the microbiome-gut-brain axis and its role.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Adjunctive PC6 magnetic stimulation with rTMS over left DLPFC for post-stroke cognitive impairment: a protocol for fNIRS-fMRI randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in neurologyArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Cognitive impairment is a prevalent neurological disorder that burdens families and the healthcare system. Current conventional therapies for cognitive impairment, such as cholinesterase inhibitors and N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antagonists, are unable to completely stop or reverse the progression of the disease. Also, these medicines may cause serious problems with the digestive system, cardiovascular system, and sleep. Clinically, stimulation of acupoints has the potential to ameliorate the common symptoms of a variety of cognitive disorders, such as memory deficit, language dysfunction, executive dysfunction, reduced ability to live independently, etc. There are common acupoint stimulation mechanisms for treating various types of cognitive impairment, but few systematic analyses of the underlying mechanisms in this domain have been performed. This study comprehensively reviewed the basic research from the last 20 years and found that acupoint stimulation can effectively improve the spatial learning and memory of animals. The common mechanism may be that acupoint stimulation protects hippocampal neurons by preventing apoptosis and scavenging toxic proteins. Additionally, acupoint stimulation has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, promoting neural regeneration, regulating synaptic plasticity, and normalizing neural circuits by restoring brain functional activity and connectivity. Acupoint stimulation also inhibits the production of amyloid β-peptide and the phosphorylation of Tau protein, suggesting that it may protect neurons by promoting correct protein folding and regulating the degradation of toxic proteins via the autophagy-lysosomal pathway. However, the benefits of acupoint stimulation still need to be further explored in more high-quality studies in the future.
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.