Qu, Yuan-Yuan, Feng, Chu-Wen, Sun, Zhong-Ren et al. · Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research · 2024 · DOI
Researchers tested whether electroacupuncture—a traditional needle-based treatment—could help rats with experimentally-induced fatigue syndrome. The treated rats showed improved physical endurance, better memory, and reduced anxiety compared to untreated sick rats. The researchers also found that treatment reduced inflammatory markers in the brain and blood that were elevated in sick rats.
This study provides mechanistic evidence that electroacupuncture may modulate neuroinflammatory pathways implicated in ME/CFS fatigue and cognitive dysfunction. The findings suggest a potential role for inflammation in CFS pathophysiology and identify a testable intervention that warrants clinical investigation in ME/CFS patients.
This is a rat model study and does not directly prove that electroacupuncture will be effective or safe in ME/CFS patients. The artificially-induced fatigue in rats may not fully replicate the complex pathophysiology of human ME/CFS. Results do not establish causation—only that EA correlates with cytokine changes and behavioral improvements in this experimental system.
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
Qu, Yuan-Yuan, Feng, Chu-Wen, Sun, Zhong-Ren, Sun, Wei-Bo, Lu, Jing, Shao, Yu-Ying, et al. (2024). Effect of electroacupuncture on behavior and hippocampal inflammatory factors in rats with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research. https://doi.org/10.13702/j.1000-0607.20230441
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-qu-2024-effect-electroacupuncture,
author = {Qu, Yuan-Yuan and Feng, Chu-Wen and Sun, Zhong-Ren and Sun, Wei-Bo and Lu, Jing and Shao, Yu-Ying and Guo, Shu-Hao and Li, Bin-Bin and Chen, Tao and Yang, Tian-Song},
title = {Effect of electroacupuncture on behavior and hippocampal inflammatory factors in rats with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.13702/j.1000-0607.20230441},
note = {PubMed: 38500324},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/qu-2024-effect-electroacupuncture},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/qu-2024-effect-electroacupuncture
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