To help alleviate Parkinson's disease motor symptoms
Table of Contents
What is Parkinson's Disease?
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder first described in 1817 by Dr. James Parkinson as 'shaking palsy'. PD is characterized by motor symptoms such as rigidity, resting tremor, and postural instability, as well as non-motor symptoms like sleep disturbances, hallucinations, and constipation. It is reported that 1-2% of the population aged 65 and older are affected by PD.
From a pathological perspective, recent studies have suggested that PD is closely associated with the loss of dopaminergic neurons (DA) in the substantia nigra (SN) pars compacta of the brain, caused by familial and/or sporadic factors.
Levodopa has been widely used for PD management in recent decades, but complications associated with its use are substantial.
Research on Acupuncture Treatment for Parkinson's Disease
Considerable interest exists in the potential benefits of traditional Eastern medicine to slow the progression of Parkinson's disease symptoms and promote positive responses to drug therapy, and research on this topic is continuously ongoing. Today, I'd like to introduce research on acupuncture treatment for Parkinson's disease.
According to data, acupuncture may help alleviate motor symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease. These findings were introduced in “Does Acupuncture Protect Dopamine Neurons in Parkinson’s Disease Rodent Model?: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,”.
Acupuncture has long been used in East Asian countries to treat motor dysfunction and neurological disorders such as Parkinson's disease. There is evidence that acupuncture can enhance neural responses related to motor function in Parkinson's disease patients, and its effects have been demonstrated in clinical studies.
Different rodent models have been used to understand the extent to which acupuncture affects the recovery of dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease. However, the results are controversial. While some studies report that acupuncture restored dopaminergic neurons, other studies failed to show the neuroprotective potential of this treatment in different mouse models of the disease.
The aforementioned study reviewed the findings of 42 studies that focused on preclinical evaluation of acupuncture's therapeutic potential for Parkinson's disease. Since these studies used different mouse models of Parkinson's disease, researchers were able to broadly observe the treatment's effects without biological bias regarding the type of model used.
Can Acupuncture Help Parkinson's Disease?
All but two studies showed that acupuncture increased the levels of an enzyme called tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the substantia nigra, a key brain region affected by Parkinson's disease, suggesting healthier dopamine-producing brain cells. Tyrosine hydroxylase is involved in dopamine processing, and thus low levels of this enzyme are associated with disease progression.
“Overall, the integrated change of TH+ neurons in PD [Parkinson’s Disease] models showed 35.94% of normal brains, and interestingly, acupuncture-treated neurons improved this neural deficit by 70.43%,” the researchers reported.
“This analysis demonstrated that dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson's disease model rodents were restored by acupuncture,” it added.
Despite these positive effects, acupuncture did not induce changes in dopamine levels. Nevertheless, some studies presented evidence that motor dysfunction in Parkinsonian mice was alleviated with treatment. This suggests that while acupuncture may not directly reverse brain neuron damage or help increase dopamine production, it may enhance communication networks between brain cells.
Based on these findings, the research team believes that acupuncture treatment can potentially protect [dopaminergic] neurons through various beneficial mechanisms. I have introduced that consistent acupuncture treatment can help alleviate Parkinson's disease symptoms and slow the progression of the disease.
