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REVIEW article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Neuroinflammation and Neuropathy
Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1562925
Neuroprotective Effects of Electroacupuncture in Ischemic Stroke: From Mechanisms to Clinical Implications
Provisionally accepted- Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China
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Ischemic stroke is a condition caused by an interruption of blood flow to the brain that can lead to neurological damage. The severe neurological damage caused by an ischemic stroke can lead to cognitive impairment and even disability. Reperfusion therapy is the mainstay of treatment for ischemic stroke. However, while restoring oxygen and blood flow to the brain tissue can reduce or prevent neuronal cell damage and death caused by cerebral ischemia, ischemia/reperfusion may trigger pathological tissue reactions leading to neuronal cell damage. Excessive autophagy in neuronal cells, disruption of cellular oxidative homeostasis leading to oxidative stress, apoptosis, glutamatergic excitatory damage, ferroptosis, and neuroinflammation are all key pathways contributing to cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Electroacupuncture, as an extension of traditional Chinese acupuncture, has obvious effects on alleviating cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Many experiments have observed that after electroacupuncture treatment or pretreatment in rats, cognitive impairment was reduced, brain tissue morphology was improved, and the damage pathways such as autophagy, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and apoptosis were significantly inhibited, and the recovery pathways such as the blood-brain barrier and angiogenesis were significantly promoted.Although the specific mechanism of electroacupuncture therapy is not known, it has great potential in the treatment of ischemic stroke and cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury. Electroacupuncture to improve cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury is a new target for therapeutic approaches. In the future, electroacupuncture is expected to become an effective therapy for cerebral ischemia/reperfusion by conducting more clinical trials and enriching the understanding of its mechanism for improving cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury.
Keywords: ischemic stroke, Cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury, Electroacupuncture, Neural protection, Autophagy, Oxidative Stress
Received: 18 Jan 2025; Accepted: 07 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhu, Ge, Cao, XIao and Xiao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Renjie XIao, Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
Deng Xiao, Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.