AUTHOR=Li Ningcen , Wang Hui , Liu Hang , Zhu Lina , Lyu Zhongxi , Qiu Jiwen , Zhao Tianyi , Ren Haiyan , Huang Lihong , Chen Shuangli , Hu Xiuwu , Zhou Liang TITLE=The effects and mechanisms of acupuncture for post-stroke cognitive impairment: progress and prospects JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience VOLUME=17 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1211044 DOI=10.3389/fnins.2023.1211044 ISSN=1662-453X ABSTRACT=

Stroke is one of the important causes of both disability and death worldwide, which is very common in older adults. Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is a common secondary damage of stroke, which is the main cause of long-term disability and decreased quality of life in stroke patients, which brings a heavy burden to society and families. Acupuncture, as one of the oldest and widely used worldwide techniques in Chinese medicine, is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an alternative and complementary strategy for improving stroke care. This review comprehensively summarizes literature from the last 25 years, showing that acupuncture can exert strong beneficial effect on PSCI. The mechanisms of acupuncture on PSCI involves anti-neuronal apoptosis, promoting synaptic plasticity, alleviating central and peripheral inflammatory reactions, and regulating brain energy metabolism disorders (including improving cerebral blood flow, glucose utilization and mitochondrial structure and function, etc.), etc. The effects and mechanisms of acupuncture on PSCI reviewed in this study provides scientific and reliable evidence for acupuncture application for PSCI.