title: Acupuncture does not protect against 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced damage of dopaminergic neurons in a preclinical mouse model of Parkinson's disease.
abstract: Acupuncture treatment, a complementary and alternative medicine, is associated with a suggested neuroprotective effect in previous preclinical studies of Parkinson's disease (PD); however, results from human clinical trials have been mixed or unsuccessful. Recent systematic reviews of translational neuroprotective studies showed that the supposed efficacy is confounded by low methodological quality, particularly by a lack of randomization and concealed allocation. We sought to replicate previous experimental findings with a study design that mitigates the introduction of bias, including randomization, blinded outcome measures, sham acupuncture application, and allocation concealment by blinded neurotoxin administration. We performed 12 sessions of manual acupuncture at acupoint GB34 (yanglingquan) in mice that were administered the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine neurotoxin for five consecutive days. In this animal model of PD, acupuncture treatment did not attenuate tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive neuronal death, depletion of striatal dopamine levels, or reduced striatal tyrosine hydroxylase expression. Our results indicate that acupuncture is not neuroprotective against nigrostriatal loss in a subacute 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine mouse model of PD.
authors.affiliation: aDepartment of Neurology, Ulsan University Hospital, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Ulsan bDepartment of Neurology, Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital, Ewha Womans University College of Medicine cDepartment of Neurology and Neuroscience Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine dCancer Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul eDepartment of Neurology, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Anyang fDepartment of Neurology, Myongji Hospital, Seonam University College of Medicine, Goyang, Korea gSecond Department of Neurology, The China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin Province, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui-Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Ji Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.forename: Young Eun
authors.initials: YE
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Gwanhee
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ehm
authors.forename: Ji Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Min-Yung
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Yoon
authors.forename: Young-Shin
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Han-Joon
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Beomseok
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jeon
mesh_terms: D026881:Acupuncture / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D002853:Chromatography, Liquid; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D059290:Dopaminergic Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D020267:MPTP Poisoning / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000473:pathology*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase