Yang, Yan, Sun, Zhong-Ren, Li, Chao-Ran et al. · Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research · 2024 · DOI
Researchers tested whether acupuncture with electrical stimulation could help rats with an artificially induced fatigue-like condition. After 28 days of treatment, the acupuncture-treated rats showed improvements in their overall condition, anxiety levels, and memory compared to untreated rats. The researchers found changes in brain proteins that might explain how the treatment helped.
This study provides molecular evidence that acupuncture may modulate hippocampal protein phosphorylation patterns relevant to cognitive impairment and fatigue in CFS-like disease. Understanding potential neuroimmunological targets could inform development of symptom-directed therapies for ME/CFS patients experiencing cognitive dysfunction and anxiety.
This study demonstrates correlation between EA treatment and changes in hippocampal phosphoproteins in rats, but does not establish causation or prove that these protein changes directly produce behavioral improvements. Findings in a rat stress model may not translate to human ME/CFS pathophysiology, which involves distinct immunological, metabolic, and neurological abnormalities not modeled here. The study does not test whether these effects are specific to acupuncture or also occur with other interventions.
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
Yang, Yan, Sun, Zhong-Ren, Li, Chao-Ran, Feng, Chu-Wen, Wang, Yu-Lin, Wang, De-Long, et al. (2024). Effect of electroacupuncture on expression of protein phosphorylation in hippocampus tissues of rats with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research. https://doi.org/10.13702/j.1000-0607.20230180
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-yang-2024-effect-electroacupuncture,
author = {Yang, Yan and Sun, Zhong-Ren and Li, Chao-Ran and Feng, Chu-Wen and Wang, Yu-Lin and Wang, De-Long and Qu, Yuan-Yuan and Guo, Jing and Shi, Tian-Yu and Sun, Wen and Sun, Wei-Bo and Yang, Tian-Song},
title = {Effect of electroacupuncture on expression of protein phosphorylation in hippocampus tissues of rats with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Zhen ci yan jiu = Acupuncture research},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.13702/j.1000-0607.20230180},
note = {PubMed: 38897803},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/yang-2024-effect-electroacupuncture},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/yang-2024-effect-electroacupuncture
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.