ArticlePurinergic signalling2025
Electroacupuncture may alleviate diabetic neuropathic pain by inhibiting the microglia P2X4R and neuroinflammation.
Article in Purinergic signalling, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Bibliometric and visual analysis in the field of electroacupuncture's analgesia and regulation on negative emotion from 2014 to 2024.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Electroacupuncture and P2X receptors: purinergic mechanisms in pain modulation : A narrative review with structured evidence mapping.Purinergic signalling · 2026Review
- Molecular Mechanisms of Electroacupuncture-Induced Spinal Microglial Reprogramming in Neuropathic Pain: A Systematic Search-Narrative Review.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Editorial: Purinergic signalling-a perspective from China (II).Purinergic signalling · 2025Article
- P2X4 Receptor Antagonist Ameliorates Ocular Pain in Rats After Lacrimal Gland Removal.Translational vision science & technology · 2025Article
- Electroacupuncture may alleviate inflammatory pain by downregulating the expression of P2YPurinergic signalling · 2025Article
- Comparative efficacy of moxibustion as an add-on treatment with different durations for diabetic peripheral neuropathy: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Microglia's Phenotypic Heterogeneity in Pain Pathogenesis and Electroacupuncture Analgesia: Mechanisms and Therapeutic Potential.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- The role of glial cells in neuralgia: a bibliometric exploration.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Spinal neuron-glial crosstalk and ion channel dysregulation in diabetic neuropathic pain.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Review
- The analgesic mechanism of electroacupuncture at the central level for neuropathic pain: a review of studies based on animal experiments.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- The deficient CLEC5A ameliorates the behavioral and pathological deficits via the microglial Aβ clearance in Alzheimer's disease mouse model.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2024Article
- Diabetic Neuropathic Pain: Directions for Exploring Treatments.Biomedicines · 2024Review
- Role of microglia in diabetic neuropathic pain.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
17 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) is a common and destructive complication of diabetes mellitus. The discovery of effective therapeutic methods for DNP is vitally imperative because of the lack of effective treatments. Although 2 Hz electroacupuncture (EA) was a successful approach for relieving DNP, the mechanism underlying the effect of EA on DNP is still poorly understood. Here, we established a rat model of DNP that was induced by streptozotocin (STZ) injection. P2X4R was upregulated in the spinal cord after STZ-injection. The upregulation of P2X4R was mainly expressed on activated microglia. Intrathecal injection of a P2X4R antagonist or microglia inhibitor attenuated STZ-induced nociceptive thermal hyperalgesia and reduced the overexpression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in the spinal cord. We also assessed the effects of EA treatment on the pain hypersensitivities of DNP rats, and further investigated the possible mechanism underlying the analgesic effect of EA. EA relieved the hyperalgesia of DNP. In terms of mechanism, EA reduced the upregulation of P2X4R on activated microglia and decreased BDNF, IL-1β and TNF-α in the spinal cord. Mechanistic research of EA's analgesic impact would be beneficial in ensuring its prospective therapeutic effect on DNP as well as in extending EA's applicability.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.