As one of the most important therapies in complementary and alternative medicine, acupuncture has been used in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Acupuncture of “olfactory three-needle” manipulation can improve the cognitive ability of AD patients. However, the mechanism of “olfactory three-needle” in AD remains largely unknown. Here, we identified that the “olfactory three-needle” therapy and eugenol olfactory stimulation both reduced the deposition of β-amyloid (Aβ) protein and increased the expression of synaptophysin (SYP), but only the “olfactory three-needle” enhanced the spatial learning and memory ability of SAMP8. Remarkably, the “olfactory three-needle” inhibited the phosphorylation of p38MAPK and the excessive activation of microglia (MG) in the hippocampus. Our study demonstrates that the “olfactory three-needle” enhances spatial learning and memory ability by inhibiting the phosphorylation of p38MAPK and the excessive activation of MG to reduce the neuroinflammatory response and neurotoxicity of Aβ and promote synaptic regeneration, but it was not completely consistent with the stimulation of the olfactory system.

中文翻译：

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“嗅三针”增强了SAMP8小鼠的空间学习和记忆能力。

作为补充医学和替代医学中最重要的疗法之一，针灸已用于治疗阿尔茨海默氏病（AD）。针刺“嗅三针”疗法可以提高AD患者的认知能力。但是，AD中“嗅觉三针”的作用机制仍然未知。这里，我们确定了“嗅觉三针”疗法和丁子香酚嗅觉刺激二者减少的沉积β淀粉样蛋白（β）蛋白并增加突触素（SYP）的表达，但只有“嗅三针”增强了SAMP8的空间学习和记忆能力。值得注意的是，“嗅觉三针”抑制了海马中p38MAPK的磷酸化和小胶质细胞（MG）的过度活化。我们的研究表明，“嗅三针”通过抑制p38MAPK的磷酸化和MG的过度激活，减少A的神经炎性反应和神经毒性增强空间学习和记忆能力β，促进突触的再生，但它是不完全一致刺激嗅觉系统。