Aberrant parasympathetic responses in acupuncture therapy for restoring immune homeostasis

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Acupuncture is an effective therapy used worldwide to treat various diseases, including infections, allergic disorders, autoimmune diseases, and immunodeficiency syndromes. Except for the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, acupuncture exerts its regulatory effect mainly by producing autonomic reflexes, including somatic-sympathetic and somatic-parasympathetic reflexes. In this review, we discuss the updated progress of the cholinergic vagal efferent pathway, vagal-adrenal axis, local spinal sacral-parasympathetic pathway, and the somatotopic evocation of parasympathetic responses related to restoring immune homeostasis within acupuncture therapy. Targeting the parasympathetic reflex offers scientific instruction for the design of acupuncture protocols for immunological diseases, providing more specialized comprehensive treatment recommendations.

Graphical abstract:

http://links.lww.com/AHM/A49

Related collections

Most cited references 80

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Acetylcholine-synthesizing T cells relay neural signals in a vagus nerve circuit.

Mauricio Rosas-Ballina, Peder Olofsson, Mahendar Ochani … (2011)

Neural circuits regulate cytokine production to prevent potentially damaging inflammation. A prototypical vagus nerve circuit, the inflammatory reflex, inhibits tumor necrosis factor-α production in spleen by a mechanism requiring acetylcholine signaling through the α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor expressed on cytokine-producing macrophages. Nerve fibers in spleen lack the enzymatic machinery necessary for acetylcholine production; therefore, how does this neural circuit terminate in cholinergic signaling? We identified an acetylcholine-producing, memory phenotype T cell population in mice that is integral to the inflammatory reflex. These acetylcholine-producing T cells are required for inhibition of cytokine production by vagus nerve stimulation. Thus, action potentials originating in the vagus nerve regulate T cells, which in turn produce the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, required to control innate immune responses.

0 comments Cited 295 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Splenic nerve is required for cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway control of TNF in endotoxemia.

Mauricio Rosas-Ballina, Mahendar Ochani, William Parrish … (2008)

The autonomic nervous system maintains homeostasis through its sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions. During infection, cells of the immune system release cytokines and other mediators that cause fever, hypotension, and tissue injury. Although the effect of cytokines on the nervous system has been known for decades, only recently has it become evident that the autonomic nervous system, in turn, regulates cytokine production through neural pathways. We have previously shown that efferent vagus nerve signals regulate cytokine production through the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit alpha7, a mechanism termed "the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway." Here, we show that vagus nerve stimulation during endotoxemia specifically attenuates TNF production by spleen macrophages in the red pulp and the marginal zone. Administration of nicotine, a pharmacological agonist of alpha7, attenuated TNF immunoreactivity in these specific macrophage subpopulations. Synaptophysin-positive nerve endings were observed in close apposition to red pulp macrophages, but they do not express choline acetyltransferase or vesicular acetylcholine transporter. Surgical ablation of the splenic nerve and catecholamine depletion by reserpine indicate that these nerves are catecholaminergic and are required for functional inhibition of TNF production by vagus nerve stimulation. Thus, the cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway regulates TNF production in discrete macrophage populations via two serially connected neurons: one preganglionic, originating in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve, and the second postganglionic, originating in the celiac-superior mesenteric plexus, and projecting in the splenic nerve.

0 comments Cited 226 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Dopamine Mediates the Vagal Modulation of the Immune System by Electroacupuncture

Rafael Torres-Rosas, Ghassan Yehia, Geber Peña … (2014)

Previous anti-inflammatory strategies against sepsis, a leading cause of death in hospitals, had limited efficacy in clinical trials, in part because they targeted single cytokines and the experimental models failed to mimic clinical settings 1-3 . Neuronal networks represent physiological mechanisms selected by evolution to control inflammation that can be exploited for the treatment of inflammatory and infectious disorders 3 . Here, we report that sciatic nerve activation with electroacupuncture controls systemic inflammation and rescues mice from polymicrobial peritonitis. Electroacupuncture at the sciatic nerve controls systemic inflammation by inducing a vagal activation of DOPA decarboxylase leading to the production of dopamine in the adrenal medulla. Experimental models with adrenolectomized animals mimic clinical adrenal insufficiency 4 , increase the susceptibility to sepsis, and prevent the anti-inflammatory potential of electroacupuncture. Dopamine inhibits cytokine production via dopaminergic type-1 receptors. Dopaminergic D1-agonists suppress systemic inflammation and rescue mice from polymicrobial peritonitis in animals with adrenal insufficiency. Our results suggest a novel anti-inflammatory mechanism mediated by the sciatic and the vagus nerves modulating the production of catecholamines in the adrenal glands. From a pharmacological perspective, selective dopaminergic agonists mimic the anti-inflammatory potential of electroacupuncture and can provide therapeutic advantages to control inflammation in infectious and inflammatory disorders.

0 comments Cited 220 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Journal

Title: Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine

Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)

ISSN (Print): 2097-0226

Publication date Created: 2023

Publication date (Print): June 2023

Publication date (Electronic): February 17 2023

Volume: 3

Issue: 2

Pages: 69-75

Affiliations

[1 ]State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology, MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, Huashan Hospital, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China

Article

DOI: 10.1097/HM9.0000000000000060

SO-VID: cdf0fc49-ec5e-4de1-9108-20b89b69d491

License:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

History

Data availability:

Aberrant parasympathetic responses in acupuncture therapy for restoring immune homeostasis

Read this article at

Abstract

Graphical abstract:

Related collections

Neuropharmacology and Therapy

Most cited references 80

Acetylcholine-synthesizing T cells relay neural signals in a vagus nerve circuit.

Splenic nerve is required for cholinergic antiinflammatory pathway control of TNF in endotoxemia.

Dopamine Mediates the Vagal Modulation of the Immune System by Electroacupuncture

Author and article information

Journal

Affiliations

Article

History

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 274

Cited by 1

Most referenced authors 740