Effectiveness of acupuncture in migraine rats: A systematic review

Pingping Su; Xiuzhen Xie; Yingqi Xu; Xinxin Luo; Jianli Niu; Zhuqing Jin

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0280556

Effectiveness of acupuncture in migraine rats: A systematic review

PLoS One. 2023 Jan 20;18(1):e0280556. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280556. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Pingping Su¹, Xiuzhen Xie¹, Yingqi Xu¹, Xinxin Luo², Jianli Niu³, Zhuqing Jin⁴

Affiliations

¹ The Third School of Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.
² The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.
³ Office of Human Research, Memorial Healthcare System, Hollywood, Florida, United States of America.
⁴ School of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, 310053, China.

Abstract

Objective: To systematically evaluate the effectiveness and potential underlying mechanisms of acupuncture in the treatment of experimental model of migraine in rats.

Methods: Nine electronic databases, including CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), WanFang, VIP (Chinese Scientific Journals Database), Sinomed, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and EBSCO, were searched for randomized experimental studies on migraine in rats involving acupuncture intervention. The search period ranged from inception to June 2022. The methodological quality was assessed using the SYRCLE's risk of bias tool for animal studies. Data were analyzed using the Revman 5.3 software.

Results: A total of 13 studies were included in this analysis. Findings from the available experimental studies documented that acupuncture significantly reduced behavior scores of rats with migraine (MD = -15.01, 95%CI = [-18.01, -12.01], P<0.00001) and downregulated the expression of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) (MD = -16.14, 95%CI = [-21.45, -10.83], P<0.00001), substance P (SP) (MD = -11.47, 95%CI = [-15.97, -6.98], P<0.00001) and nitric oxide (NO) (MD = -3.02, 95%CI = [-3.79, -2.26], P<0.00001) in serum, and stimulatory G protein (Gsa) (MD = -62.90, 95%CI = [-69.88, -55.92], P<0.00001) in brainstem. Acupuncture also significantly increased the content of inhibitory G protein (Gia) (MD = 24.01, 95%CI = [20.10, 27.92], P<0.00001) in brainstem and 50% paw withdrawal threshold (50%PWT) (MD = 1.96, 95%CI = [1.15, 2.77], P<0.00001).

Conclusion: Acupuncture can effectively improve the behavioral performance of rates with migraine, and its mechanism of action might involve the inhibition of meningeal vasodilation and inflammatory factors, and the reduction of neurogenic inflammation.

Copyright: © 2023 Su et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication types

Systematic Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acupuncture Therapy*
Animals
Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide
China
GTP-Binding Proteins
Migraine Disorders* / therapy
Rats

Substances

Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide
GTP-Binding Proteins

Grants and funding

Prof. Jin was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (funding reference number 81774010) and played the following specific roles: Prof. Jin designed and supervised the study, reviewed and revised the manuscript.