Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Sep 14, 2020; 26(34): 5118-5129
Published online Sep 14, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i34.5118
Acupuncture improved lipid metabolism by regulating intestinal absorption in mice
Jia Han, Xin Guo, Xiang-Jin Meng, Jing Zhang, Reimon Yamaguchi, Yoshiharu Motoo, Sohsuke Yamada
Jia Han, Xin Guo, Xiang-Jin Meng, Jing Zhang, Sohsuke Yamada, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa 920-0293, Japan
Jia Han, Yoshiharu Motoo, Department of Oncology, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa 920-0293, Japan
Xin Guo, Sohsuke Yamada, Department of Pathology, Kanazawa Medical University Hospital, Ishikawa 920-0293, Japan
Reimon Yamaguchi, Department of Dermatology, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa 920-0293, Japan
Author contributions: Han J, Guo X and Yamada S conceptualized and designed the experiments; Han J, Guo X, Meng XJ, Zhang J and Yamaguchi R carried out the experiments; Han J, Guo X and Zhang J analyzed the data; Han J and Guo X wrote the manuscript; Guo X, Yamada S and Motoo Y edited the manuscript.
Supported by the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, No. 19K16783; the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan, No. 20K07454 and No. 20K17363; Grant for Promoted Research from Kanazawa Medical University, No. S2018-6.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board at Kanazawa Medical University.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All animal experiments conformed to the internationally accepted principles for the care and use of laboratory animals.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest in association with the present study.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xin Guo, PhD, Doctor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Kanazawa Medical University, 1-1 Daigaku, Uchinada, Kahoku, Ishikawa 920-0293, Japan. tianqi11211216@yahoo.co.jp
Received: May 19, 2020
Peer-review started: May 19, 2020
First decision: June 20, 2020
Revised: June 30, 2020
Accepted: August 14, 2020
Article in press: August 14, 2020
Published online: September 14, 2020
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a pandemic liver disease in the twenty-first century, and the prevalence of NAFLD is still increasing each year. However, there are still no effective drugs for the therapy of this disease.

Research motivation

Acupuncture is one of the most important external interventions in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which has been applied in the treatment of various diseases and symptoms. However, the mechanisms underlying its action remain unclear, which limits its development.

Research objectives

In previous study, we found that acupuncture treatment significantly inhibited the progression of NAFLD by controlling the intrahepatic pathological process. In this study, we investigated the role of acupuncture treatment in the improvement of metabolic syndrome secondary to NAFLD.

Research methods

Since laboratory experiments cannot be easily carried out on the human body without need, we established a mouse model of NAFLD by administering a classic diet inducing NAFLD. Animal experiments are of great value and can provide a lot of convenience for signal pathways study. According to TCM, we for the first time selected the three acupoints of Zu san li (ST36), Yong quan (KI1) and Guan yuan (CV4) for needling mice in order to the effect of acupuncture treatment in treating NAFLD.

Research results

Acupuncture treatment can suppress intestinal lipid absorption by downregulating the expression of apolipoproteins in the small intestine, and then improve obesity and hyperlipidemia. In fact, acupuncture has been widely used in the treatment of obesity in the clinical setting; thus, in view of the reduced lipid absorption, proper nutritional supplementation should be considered throughout the treatment process. Acupuncture treatment normalized the size of the intestine and contributed to the longer villi. The specific mechanism needs to be confirmed by further studies in the future.

Research conclusions

We suggest that, in addition to the control of the intrahepatic pathological process, acupuncture may improve the outcomes of patients with NAFLD by regulating the systemic metabolism of the body.

Research perspectives

In future study, the quantities of feed and feces need to be monitored by using metabolic cage. In addition to lipid, the role of acupuncture in another nutrients metabolism should be investigated. The side effects of long-term treatment need to be further observed.