Alzheimer's disease is a chronic progressive disease of mental decline. Modern medicine has no effective treatment. Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia. Donepezil, a cholinesterase inhibitor, is a drug commonly used in Western medicine to treat the dementia symptoms associated with Alzheimer's disease, including cognitive impairment, personality changes and memory impairment. Clinical trial results have shown that acupuncture, in combination with medication, improves cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Symptoms
Cognitive impairment
Deterioration of memory, memory impairment
Personality change, behavioural change
Acupuncture has a positive effect on the brain and protects it from Alzheimer's lesions. A study published in the journal Neural Regeneration Research shows that the use of electroacupuncture and moxibustion protects brain structures.
Acupuncture improves brain activity in patients with Alzheimer's disease. The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the effects of acupuncture on the brains of Alzheimer's patients and found that acupuncture "improves hippocampal connectivity in Alzheimer's patients". After acupuncture, MRI imaging showed significant improvements in hippocampal connectivity in both the prefrontal and lateral temporal regions of the Alzheimer's patients. "Since Alzheimer's disease is associated with cognitive impairment, acupuncture at specific acupuncture points may regulate brain blood flow and improve hippocampal connectivity in Alzheimer's patients," the researchers said.
Further studies show that acupuncture in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease increases the excitability of the cerebral cortex of Alzheimer's patients and improves blood and oxygen supply to the brain and promotes energy metabolism of the declining neurons.
Animal studies have also confirmed that acupuncture alters the M-receptor binding capacity in the brain and can adjust the cAMP/cGMP ratio, which improves energy metabolism in brain tissue and thus repair and regeneration of damage. Acupuncture has been confirmed to have a reliable effect on AD and is still mainly used to treat vascular dementia.