AUTHOR=Qi Pengfei , Li Quan , Han Mingyuan , Cui Yang , Zhou Xinyu , Sun Zhongren , Ding Shuo , Yu Mengdi , Zhang Hongbo , Yin Hongna 

TITLE=The analgesic mechanism of electroacupuncture at the central level for neuropathic pain: a review of studies based on animal experiments

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2025.1587471

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2025.1587471

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=This article analyzes the progress of animal experiments on the analgesic mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) at the central level for neuropathic pain (NP) in the past 10 years, and summarizes the analgesic mechanism of EA at the central level for NP. EA, as a safe and reliable treatment, can treat NP by regulating the release of nociceptive neurotransmitters and receptors, upregulating the expression of non-coding RNA (ncRNA), inhibiting the activation of microglia, Ca2+/calmodulin kinase II (CaMKII) phosphorylation, dendritic spine remodeling, endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS), and glucose metabolism. NP is a type of pain caused by various diseases. Pain caused by stroke, spinal cord injury, postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), diabetes, and chemotherapy-induced neuropathy all fall into the category of NP, which makes the treatment of NP very challenging. At present, EA research on the treatment of NP is more focused on the mechanism of the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, and there are relatively few animal experiments at the level of the central brain region. There is also a lack of clinical trials using human subjects and relevant biochemical indicators. In the future, electrophysiology, neuron tracing, and multi-omics techniques combined with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence should be used to further improve the analgesic mechanism of EA on the central level for NP, making EA the best treatment for NP.