Table 2.
Characteristics of the five included animal studies.
| Study (years) | Journal | Stroke information | MRI information | Groups | Acupuncture information | Data analysis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main symptoms | Species | The affected side | Magnet strength (T) | Treatment group | Acupoints | ||||
| Zhang et al. 2011 [55] | Brain injury | Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model | SD rats, after 24 hours of the surgery | Left side | NA | (1) MCAO, n = 6 (2) MCAO + EA, n = 6 |
EA, 30 minutes | DU20 | DWI |
| Wu et al. 2012 [56] | Acupuncture in medicine | Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAO) | SD rats, after 30 minutes of the surgery | Left side | 1.5-T | (1) SC, n = 12 (2) tMCAO, n = 12 (3) tMCAO + EA, n = 12 |
MA, 30 minutes for 28 days | DU20, DU14, LI10, and ST36 | ADC value and the FA |
| Liang et al. 2017 [57] | Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases | Motor impairments/middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) | SD rats, after 24 hours of the surgery | Left side | 7.0 T | (1) SC, n = 12 (2) MCAO, n = 9 (3)MCAO + EA, n = 9 |
EA, 30 minutes per day for 7 consecutive days | ST36 and LI11 | ReHo |
| Wen et al. 2018 [58] | Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases | Middle cerebral artery occlusion induced cognitive deficit (MICD) | SD rats, after 24 hours of the surgery | Left side | 7.0 T | (1) SC, n = 12 (2) MICD, n = 12 (3) MICD + EA, n = 12 |
EA, 30 minutes per day for 14 consecutive days | DU20 and DU24 | ALFF |
| Li et al. 2021 [81] | Acupuncture in medicine | Motor impairments/middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) | SD rats, after 24 hours of the surgery | Left side | 7.0 T | (1) SC, n = 12 (2) MCAO, n = 9 (3) MCAO + EA, n = 9 |
EA, 30 minutes per day for 14 consecutive days | LI11 and ST36 | FC, left motor cortex as the seed region |
Note: ALFF: amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations; DWI: diffusion-weighted imaging; SC: sham-operated control; SD: Sprague-Dawley rats.