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Electroacupuncture activates neurons to switch off inflammation

Neurons that express a specific molecular marker are activated by ‘electroacupuncture’ stimulation. They can then mediate the treatment’s anti-inflammatory effects in a mouse model of the inflammatory condition sepsis.
  1. Luis Ulloa

    1. Luis Ulloa is at the Center for Perioperative Organ Protection, Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

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Neuronal networks have evolved to control organ functions. A technique called electroacupuncture, in which specific points on the body called acupoints are stimulated electrically, has long been used to activate these networks and thereby modulate the functions of certain organs to treat various disorders. It is a key part of an emerging medical field known as bioelectronic medicine1,2. However, little is known about the neuronal networks that mediate the effects of electroacupuncture at specific acupoints1,3. Writing in Nature, Liu et al.4 show in mice that a set of neurons expressing the protein Prokr2 are needed for electrical stimulation of a hindlimb acupoint to rein in the unbridled inflammatory responses that characterize lethal sepsis.

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Nature 598, 573-574 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02714-0

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The author declares no competing interests.

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