SynthesisMedicine2026
A systematic review and meta-analysis of acupuncture for intestinal protection and underlying mechanisms in animal models of ulcerative colitis.
Synthesis in Medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough acupuncture has exhibited potential in the therapy of ulcerative colitis (UC), its particular protective mechanisms remain controversial, and meta-analyses examining these mechanisms are lacking. Accordingly, this investigation endeavors to systematically appraise the intestinal protective effectiveness of acupuncture using animal models and to explore its potential mechanisms of action in depth.
methodsWe searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Wanfang, and Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database. The time frame was from the establishment of the databases to June 2025. An assessment of the included studies' quality was conducted using the 10 criteria specified by the Systematic Review Centre for Laboratory Animal Experimentation bias risk assessment tool. After extracting the complete data, statistical analysis was conducted using Stata 12 software (StataCorp LP). Additionally, results were validated through subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and assessment of publication bias.
resultsA total of 31 studies were included, involving 597 animals. Meta-analysis results revealed that acupuncture intervention substantially decreased the disease activity index score and expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6 in UC animal models, concurrently enhancing the protein expression of Zonula occludens-1 and Occludin. The subgroup analysis indicated that the research heterogeneity might be attributed to various factors: the differences in modeling methods might be related to the heterogeneity of disease activity index and interleukin-6; while the variations in acupuncture retention time might be associated with the heterogeneity of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β.
conclusionsThe findings indicate that in animal models of UC, acupuncture may confer protection through the inhibition of inflammatory responses and the restoration of the intestinal mucosal barrier.
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.