Research Progress on Mechanism of Acupuncture for Neurological and Other Diseases by Regulating Autophagy-Lysosomal Pathway / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

ABSTRACT

As an important part of traditional Chinese medicine， the efficacy and scientificity of acupuncture have attracted more and more attention. In recent years， rigorous randomized controlled clinical trials have confirmed the efficacy of acupuncture on certain dominant diseases， and basic researches have partially revealed the mechanism of acupuncture for treating diseases. By analyzing published literatures and referring to relevant studies from our research team， this paper reviews the mechanisms of acupuncture for treating neurological and other diseases via regulating the autophagy-lysosomal pathway （ALP）. We found that acupuncture improved related pathologies in different disease models by up-regulating or down-regulating ALP， and there is a certain correlation between the distribution of acupoints and the one-way/two-way regulation of ALP； however， the current studies have some defects in experimental design and methodology， and the molecular mechanisms of acupuncture on ALP regulation remain to be further elucidated.