Chuwen, Feng, Chaoran, L I, Yan, Yang et al. · Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2025 · DOI
This study tested whether moxibustion—a traditional Chinese medicine technique involving gentle heat applied to a specific acupuncture point on the leg—could help rats with chronic fatigue syndrome. Researchers found that moxibustion improved the rats' activity levels, memory, and reduced damage to a brain region involved in learning and emotion. The treatment appeared to work by restoring balance to specific proteins in the brain that were abnormal in the fatigued rats.
ME/CFS patients experience cognitive dysfunction and memory problems linked to hippocampal dysfunction; this study identifies specific protein abnormalities in a fatigue model that are reversible with treatment. If validated in humans, the 16 biomarkers could provide diagnostic tools and reveal treatment targets for cognitive symptoms in ME/CFS. Understanding multiple protein pathways involved in fatigue may help develop both traditional and conventional therapeutic approaches.
This study does not prove that moxibustion will be effective in human ME/CFS patients, as rat stress-induced fatigue may differ substantially from the complex pathophysiology of human disease. The protein changes identified are correlational and do not definitively establish cause-and-effect mechanisms in human hippocampal dysfunction. Animal model findings frequently fail to translate to clinical benefit in humans, requiring rigorous clinical trials before therapeutic claims can be made.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Chuwen, Feng, Chaoran, L I, Yan, Yang, Yuanyuan, Q U, Zhongren, Sun, Weibo, Sun, et al. (2025). Identifying potential biomarkers in the hippocampus of chronic fatigue syndrome rats treated with moxibustion at Zusanli (ST36): a proteomics study.. Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan. https://doi.org/10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2025.03.012
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-chuwen-2025-identifying-potential,
author = {Chuwen, Feng and Chaoran, L I and Yan, Yang and Yuanyuan, Q U and Zhongren, Sun and Weibo, Sun and Tingting, Liu and Shulin, L I and Tiansong, Yang},
title = {Identifying potential biomarkers in the hippocampus of chronic fatigue syndrome rats treated with moxibustion at Zusanli (ST36): a proteomics study.},
journal = {Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2025.03.012},
note = {PubMed: 40524296},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/chuwen-2025-identifying-potential},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/chuwen-2025-identifying-potential
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