[Development of Researches on Acupuncture Treatment of Peripheral Nerve Injury]

Peripheral nerve injury is a common clinical disease. Acupuncture therapy has been demonstrated to be effective in improving nerve injury in clinical practice, but its underlying mechanisms in prompting tissue repair basically remain unknown. In the present paper, the authors reviewed some descriptions of traditional Chinese medicine on peripheral nerve injury and treatment, and recent development of researches on acupuncture treatment of it in both clinical practice and animal studies. Clinical trials demonstrated that acupuncture treatment can relieve nerve injury induced pain, ameliorate both sensory and motor functions. Experimental studies showed that acupuncture stimulation may promote nerve repair by reducing desquamation of medullary sheath of nerve fibers, inhibiting apoptosis of nerve cells, and up-regulating expression of myelin basic protein, Slit-1 protein and gene, etc. In addition, acupuncture intervention may also improve the microenvironment of neural regeneration including increase of the proliferation and differentiation of Schwann cells and release of various types of neurotrophic factors. However, its mechanisms underlying accelerating rehabilitation of peripheral nerve injury need being researched further.