Molecular mechanisms underlying effects of acupuncture on neuropathic pain

Peripheral or central nerve injury often leads to neuropathic pain, a chronic condition that can manifest behaviorally as spontaneous pain, hyperalgesia and allodynia, and which also results in neurological dysfunction. Acupuncture has been used to treat neuropathic pain for a long time, but its mechanisms of action remain unknown.

Ziyong Ju and team from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, China investigated the expression of ephrin-Bs/EphBs in the spinal dorsal horn using rat models of neuropathic pain, and first verified that acupuncture for neuropathic pain and the recovery of neurological function are associated with the activation of ephrin-B/EphB signaling, indicating a potential mechanism of action for acupuncture in improving pain and repairing injured nerves. This new information, published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 8, No. 25, 2013), may improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the effects of acupuncture on neuropathic injury and pain.