Pre-moxibustion and moxibustion prevent Alzheimer's disease

Yanjun Du; Ruolan Liu; Guojie Sun; Peiyan Meng; Jie Song

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.30.003

Pre-moxibustion and moxibustion prevent Alzheimer's disease

Neural Regen Res. 2013 Oct 25;8(30):2811-9. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.30.003.

Authors

Yanjun Du¹, Ruolan Liu², Guojie Sun¹, Peiyan Meng¹, Jie Song¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430061, Hubei Province, China.
² Department of Rehabilitation, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, Hubei Province, China.

PMID: 25206602
PMCID: PMC4146019
DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.30.003

Abstract

The Alzheimer's disease model in Wistar rats was established by injection of amyloid β-peptide (Aβ1-42) into the hippocampal CA1 region. Rats were treated with suspended moxibustion on Baihui (GV20) and Shenshu (BL23) acupoints. Prior to and post Aβ1-42 exposure. Results showed no evidence of apoptosis in hippocampal neurons, a significantly reduced apoptosis rate of neurons and improved learning and memory abilities were observed in the Alzheimer's disease model. In particular, moxibustion prior to Aβ1-42 exposure was more effective than moxibustion after Aβ1-42 exposure in protecting the neuronal structure and lowering the apoptosis rate. Our findings indicate that a combination of preventive and therapeutic moxibustion has a beneficial effect for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease development.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; acupuncture; apoptosis; dementia; grants-supported paper; hippocampus; moxibustion; neural regeneration; neuroregeneration.