. 2021 Dec 21;14:7191–7224. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S341581

Table 2.

Anti-Inflammatory Actions of Acupuncture in Digestive System Diseases

Refs.	Inflammatory Model	Intervention Methods	Acupoints	Acupuncture Parameters	Inflammation-Related Behaviors	Test Sites	Biochemical Measurements
Song, 2019¹⁹	Colitis	EA	ST36	30 min	DAI	Colonic tissues, serum	IL-1β↓, TNF-α↓, IL-6↓, IL-12↓, IL-17↓, IL-10↑, NLRP3↓, F4/80⁺CD16/ 32⁺↓, F480⁺CD16/ 32⁺CD206⁺↑, Caspase-1↓, Nrf2↑, HO-1↑
Liu, 2019²⁰	Colitis	EA	ST36	2 Hz, 1.0 mA, 15 min	DAI	Colonic tissues, plasma	TLR4↓, MyD88↓, claudin-1↑, ZO-1↑, adiponectin↑, TNF-α↓, IL-6↓, CRP↓, IFN-γ↓
Deng, 2017²¹	POI	MA	ST36, SP6, LR3	Rotated 30 s every 5 min, 15 min		Colonic smooth muscle cells	KIT↑, Ano1↑, miR-19a↓, IL-6↓
Song, 2020²²	PI-IBS	EA	ST25, ST36	2/15 Hz, 0.5–1.0 mA, 30 min, 10 days	AWR	Colon tissues	IL-18↓
Meng, 2019²³	NAFLD	MA	ST36, CV4, KI1	60 rounds/min for 2 min, without retaining the needle	—	Liver tissues, serum	IL-1β↓, TNF-α↓, p-NF-κB↓, TG↓, FFA ↓, 8-OHdG↓, MDA↓, ROS↓
Ma, 2020²⁴	NAFLD	EA	ST40, GB34, SP6	—	—	Liver tissues, serum	IL-1β↓, TNF-α↓, IL-6↓, Sirt1↑, p-NF-кB p65↓, p-IкBα↓, p-IKKα↓, p-IKKβ↓, ALT↓, AST↓, TG↓, TC↓
Yang, 2020²⁵	IBS	EA	ST36	100/5 Hz, 1.0 mA, 30 min, 5 days	VMR	Colonic tissue, serum	TLR4↓, MCT↓, IL-1β↓, IL-8↓
Yang, 2020²⁸	POI	EA	ST36, ST37, ST39, CV4	2, 10, 30, and 100 Hz, 1.0 mA, 20 min	Gastrointestinal transit measurements	Intestine, serum	TNF-α↓, IL-6↓, α-SMA↑, MPO↓
Ramires, 2020²⁹	Peritonitis	MA pretreatment	SP6	Rotated for a few sec, 10 min	—	Peritoneal fluid, brainstem	MPO↓, TNF-α↓, IL-6↓, IL-10↑, IL-1β↓
Li, 2018³⁰	Liver ischemia-reperfusion injury	EA	LI4	2/100 Hz, 3.0 mA, 30 min	—	Liver tissues, serum	TNF-α↓, IL-6↓, MPO↓, ALT ↓

Notes: ↑, upregulated by acupuncture; ↓, downregulated by acupuncture.

Abbreviations: POI, postoperative ileus; PI-IBS, post inflammatory irritable bowel syndrome; NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; IBS, irritable bowel syndrome; DAI, disease activity index; AWR, abdominal withdrawal reflex; VMR, visceral motor reflex; ZO-1, zonula occludens 1; CRP, C-reactive protein; IFN-γ, Interferon γ; Nrf2, NFE-related factor 2; HO-1, Heme oxygenase-1; TG, triglyceride; FFA, free fatty acid; 8-OhdG, 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine; TC, total cholesterol; ROS, reactive oxygen species; Sirt1, sirtuin-1; ALT, alanine aminotransferase; AST, aspartate aminotransferase; MCT, mast cell tryptase; LR3, Taichong; CV4, Guanyuan; KI1, Yongquan; ST40, Fenglong; GB34, Yinlingquan; ST37, Shangjuxu; ST39, Xiajuxu; LI4, Hegu.