Microglia are the primary cells that exert immune function in the central nervous system, and accumulating evidence suggests that microglia act as critical players in the initiation of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Microglia seemingly demonstrate two contradictory phenotypes in response to different microenvironmental cues, the M1 phenotype and the M2 phenotype, which are detrimental and beneficial to pathogenesis, respectively. Inhibiting the M1 phenotype with simultaneous promoting the M2 phenotype has been suggested as a potential therapeutic approach for cure AD. In this study, we demonstrated that electroacupuncture at the Shenting and Baihui acupoints for 16 weeks could improve learning and memory in the Morris water maze test and reduce amyloid β-protein in the parietal association cortex and entorhinal cortex in mice with mild and moderate AD. Besides, electroacupuncture at the Shenting and Baihui acupoints not only suppressed M1 marker (iNOS/IL-1β) expression but also increased the M2 marker (CD206/Arg1) expression in those regions. We propose that electroacupuncture at the Shenting and Baihui acupoints could regulate microglial polarization and decrease Aβ plaques to improve learning and memory in mild AD mice.

中文翻译：

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通过电针调节阿尔茨海默病小鼠皮层小胶质细胞 M1/M2 极化与疾病阶段相关的学习和记忆改变。

小胶质细胞是在中枢神经系统中发挥免疫功能的主要细胞，越来越多的证据表明，小胶质细胞在神经退行性疾病（如阿尔茨海默病 (AD)）的发生中起关键作用。小胶质细胞似乎表现出两种相互矛盾的表型，以响应不同的微环境线索，即 M1 表型和 M2 表型，它们分别对发病机制有害和有益。抑制 M1 表型同时促进 M2 表型已被建议作为治愈 AD 的潜在治疗方法。在这项研究中，我们证明了电针神亭和百会穴16周可以改善莫里斯水迷宫测试中的学习和记忆，并降低β淀粉样蛋白-轻度和中度 AD 小鼠顶叶联合皮层和内嗅皮层中的蛋白质。此外，电针神亭和百会穴不仅抑制了M1标志物（iNOS/IL- 1β）的表达，还增加了这些区域的M2标志物（CD206/Arg1）的表达。我们建议电在神庭和百会穴能调节小胶质细胞极化和减小β斑块，以提高学习和记忆轻度AD小鼠。