Moxibustion improved cognitive impairment

A research team from University of Science and Technology, Korea performed a systematic review aimed to verify the efficacy and underlying mechanism of moxibustion in treating cognitive impairment​(Aum et al. 2020)​. Sixteen trials involving 324 animals were obtained from various database including MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane, etc. They extracted the results of behavioral tests and immunohistochemical biomarkers from the included articles and evaluated the risk of bias and reporting quality. They found out that moxibustion intervention showed significantly decreased escape latency, increased crossing times, and prolonged dwelling times in the Morris water maze test. There was a significantly enhanced latency period and reduced error time in the step-down test and nerve behavior score. The effects of moxibustion were found to be mediated by suppression of oxidative stress and apoptosis, modulation of inflammation and Aβ genesis activation of vascular endothelial growth factor, and adjustment of metabolites in the tricarboxylic acid cycle and fatty acid metabolism.

Aum, Sungmin, Seon Choe, Mudan Cai, Uni Min Jerng, and Jun-Hwan Lee. 2020. “Moxibustion for Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Animal Studies.” Integrative Medicine Research, October. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imr.2020.100680.

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