REVIEW article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Parkinson’s Disease and Aging-related Movement Disorders
Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1640389
Acupuncture modulates the microbiota-gut-brain axis: a new strategy for Parkinson's disease treatment
Provisionally accepted
- 1Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated Second Hospital, Shenyang, China
- 2Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital, Shenyang, China
- 3Anshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Anshan, China
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Parkinson's disease is a relatively common neurodegenerative disorder in clinical practice, and its prevalence is increasing worldwide. It not only causes patients to have movement disorders such as tremors and delayed initiation but also makes patients suffer from olfactory disorders, gastrointestinal disorders, insomnia and other symptoms, which brings a heavy burden to patients and their families. In recent years, some scholars believe that the brain-gut axis may be the key to revealing the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. Changes in the intestinal flora, or bacterial infections and oxidative stress, lead to abnormal aggregation of alpha-synuclein(α-syn) and formation of neurotoxic Lewy bodies (LBs),which are transmitted to the central nervous system via the vagus nerve, causing Parkinson's disease (PD). A large number of evidence-based studies have shown that acupuncture is effective in treating motor disorders and non-motor symptoms such as constipation, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and dysphagia symptoms in Parkinson's disease, and this treatment is safe. However, its mechanism remains unclear. Acupuncture may affect the brain-gut axis and treat PD by improving intestinal flora imbalance, interfering with the expression of α-syn, protecting neurological function, anti-inflammation, and influencing glial cells, etc. Therefore, the aim of this review is to elucidate the pathogenesis of PD from the perspective of neural, immune, and metabolic signaling pathways of the microbiota-gut-brain axis. In addition, this paper integrates the mechanism of acupuncture treatment with the pathogenesis of PD for the first time and aims to provide potential new strategies for its treatment.
Keywords: microbiota-gut-brain axis1, Parkinson's disease2, acupuncture3, pathogenesis4, strategy5
Received: 03 Jun 2025; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zang, Yang, Qu, Ge, Tong, Xue, Sun and Hai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Xiuye Sun, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated Second Hospital, Shenyang, China
Ying Hai, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Affiliated Hospital, Shenyang, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.