Evaluating the potential of acupuncture for Alzheimer's disease treatment: A meta-analysis and systematic review of mouse model studies.

Mohan Yang, Liqi Tong, Zhiling Guo, Zhiqun Tan, Todd C Holmes, Zhaoxia Yu, Xiangmin Xu

Abstract readSystematic ReviewMeta-Analysis

In one paragraph

Synthesis in Translational psychiatry, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Mohan Yang *Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0003-1010-0080

Liqi Tong *Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.

Zhiling GuoSusan Samueli Integrative Health Institute, and Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7817-6872

Zhiqun TanDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.

Todd C HolmesCenter for Neural Circuit Mapping, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8152-8832

Zhaoxia YuDepartment of Statistics, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA. zhaoxia@ics.uci.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9700-1795

Xiangmin XuDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA. xiangmin.xu@uci.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5828-1533

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Acupuncture is an ancient practice that was developed within the framework of traditional Chinese medicine. While acupuncture has been recently proposed as a therapy for Alzheimer's disease (AD), acupuncture effects are not well understood in terms of neural mechanisms. Here, we review and examine the studies that used AD mouse models and analyze the experiments where researchers administered electroacupuncture (EA) to AD mice to assess the potential therapeutic impact of acupuncture on disease pathology and cognitive function in controlled laboratory settings. We analyzed 29 relevant PubMed articles published between January 2014 and July 2025. Our results reveal that EA significantly reduces both amyloid-beta (Aβ) and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) levels and neuroinflammatory biomarkers, including molecular signatures for activated microglia and astrocytes in the brain. EA also enhances cognitive functions. While no study directly compared acupoint strategies, the indirect comparisons in our network analysis suggest that GV20 has potential as a therapeutic target for AD. Our present meta-analysis and review of literature add to the evidence of integrative health practices for acupuncture-based Alzheimer's disease treatment.

Indexed as

Acupuncture TherapyAlzheimer DiseaseElectroacupunctureAmyloid beta-PeptidesAnimalsBrainDisease Models, AnimalHumansMicetau ProteinsAmyloid beta-Peptidestau Proteins

Identifiers

PMID41844585

DOI10.1038/s41398-026-03923-9

PMCPMC13002870

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

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Registered trials

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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.