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Current Research in Acupuncture pp 215–253Cite as

Acupuncture Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease

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Abstract

Acupuncture is widely accepted as an alternative therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD) in East Asia. The aim of this chapter is to review the current progress of the clinical and experimental acupuncture studies. A number of clinical studies in China and Korea proved that the efficacy of acupuncture lies in improving the motor impairments and complications of PD and reducing the long-term medical side effects; however, certain problems in the study design possibly exaggerated the efficacy of acupuncture and crippled the power of these evidences. More strictly designed clinical studies following the principles of randomization, control, double blindedness, and placebo are needed, to furnish powerful evidence in order to verify the efficacy of acupuncture. Several bench studies have tried to clarify the proposed mechanisms of acupuncture therapy like delaying the dopamine (DA) neuron depletion, improving the dopaminergic (DA-ergic) system in the PD state, neuroprotective effects, amelioration of the motor control network in the basal ganglia, and to attenuate the oxidative stress in PD state. The limited present-day bench studies still have not been able to provide sufficient evidence for revealing the secrets of acupuncture. At the end of this chapter, a new experimental strategy has been introduced. On combining the basis of the traditional acupuncture theory with the observation that the stimulation of the somatosensory pathways affects the cerebral DA level, a modified electroacupuncture method—the so-called superficial electrical stimulation (SES), is proposed. We hope that general PD researchers would accept the acupuncture therapy to a greater extent in the future.

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Acknowledgments

TA was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists, Type B, #20791025 and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research General, #24592157). YX was supported by the National Institutes of Health ­(AT-004422 and HD-034852) and the Vivian L. Smith Neurologic Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Handayama, 1-20-1, Higashi-ku, Hamamatsu-city, Shizuoka, 431-3192, Japan

    Tetsuya Asakawa

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Ying Xia

  3. The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Ying Xia

  4. Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA

    Ying Xia

Authors
  1. Tetsuya Asakawa
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  2. Ying Xia
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Correspondence to Tetsuya Asakawa or Ying Xia .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas Medical School a, 6431 Fannin Street, Houston, 77030, Texas, USA

    Ying Xia

  2. , Shanghai Research Center for Acupuncture, Fudan University, Guoshoujing Road 199, Shanghai, 201203, China, People's Republic

    Guanghong Ding

  3. Shanghai Medical School, Inst. Acupuncture Research, Fudan University, Yi Xue Yuan Road 138, Shanghai, 200032, China, People's Republic

    Gen-Cheng Wu

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Asakawa, T., Xia, Y. (2013). Acupuncture Treatment for Parkinson’s Disease. In: Xia, Y., Ding, G., Wu, GC. (eds) Current Research in Acupuncture. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3357-6_7

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