Zhang Y, Tang YW, Zhou J, Wei YR, Peng YT, Yan Z, Yue ZH. Electroacupuncture at ST36 ameliorates gastric dysmotility in rats with diabetic gastroparesis via the nucleus tractus solitarius-vagal axis. World J Gastroenterol 2025; 31(21): 107395 [DOI: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i21.107395]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zeng-Hui Yue, FACE, College of Acupuncture, Massage and Rehabilitation, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, No. 300 Bachelor Road, Yuelu District, Changsha 410208, Hunan Province, China. yue5381316@126.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Basic Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2025; 31(21): 107395 Published online Jun 7, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i21.107395
Electroacupuncture at ST36 ameliorates gastric dysmotility in rats with diabetic gastroparesis via the nucleus tractus solitarius-vagal axis
You Zhang, Yi-Wen Tang, Jin Zhou, Yan-Rong Wei, Yu-Ting Peng, Zi Yan, Zeng-Hui Yue
You Zhang, Yi-Wen Tang, Jin Zhou, Yan-Rong Wei, Yu-Ting Peng, Zi Yan, Zeng-Hui Yue, College of Acupuncture, Massage and Rehabilitation, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, Changsha 410208, Hunan Province, China
Author contributions: Zhang Y and Yue ZH designed the study; Zhang Y, Tang YW and Zhou J performed the experiments; Tang YW, Zhou J, Wei YR, Peng YT and Yan Z conducted a survey and search; Zhang Y analyzed the results and wrote the article; All authors read and approved the final version.
Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China, No. 2023JJ30462; Hunan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, No. 2023SK2045, No. 22JBZ007 and No. Z2023JB01; and Graduate Research and Innovation Projects of Hunan Province, No. 2024CX031.
Institutional review board statement: This study does not involve any human experiments.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All animal studies were approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (No. HNUCM21-2311-08).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zeng-Hui Yue, FACE, College of Acupuncture, Massage and Rehabilitation, Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, No. 300 Bachelor Road, Yuelu District, Changsha 410208, Hunan Province, China. yue5381316@126.com
Received: March 23, 2025 Revised: April 11, 2025 Accepted: May 23, 2025 Published online: June 7, 2025 Processing time: 76 Days and 0.1 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Multimodal validation: Electroacupuncture (EA) significantly enhanced gastric emptying (validated by positron emission tomography-computed tomography), restored gastric slow-wave rhythms, and improved smooth muscle architecture via upregulation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase, cluster of differentiation 117, stem cell factor. Mechanistic insight: EA activates cholinergic targets (choline acetyltransferas/α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor) at ST36, transmits signals via spinal L4-L6 afferents to the nucleus tractus solitarius, and modulates gastrointestinal peptides (ghrelin, motilin, vasoactive intestinal peptide) through subdiaphragmatic vagal efferent, ultimately restoring interstitial cells of Cajal function. Translational relevance: Subdiaphragmatic vagotomy abolished EA’s therapeutic effects, unequivocally establishing vagal efferent signaling as indispensable.
