Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • NEWS AND VIEWS

Electroacupuncture activates neurons to switch off inflammation

Neurons that express a specific molecular marker are activated by ‘electroacupuncture’ stimulation. They can then mediate the treatment’s anti-inflammatory effects in a mouse model of the inflammatory condition sepsis.
  1. Luis Ulloa

    1. Luis Ulloa is at the Center for Perioperative Organ Protection, Department of Anesthesiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

Neuronal networks have evolved to control organ functions. A technique called electroacupuncture, in which specific points on the body called acupoints are stimulated electrically, has long been used to activate these networks and thereby modulate the functions of certain organs to treat various disorders. It is a key part of an emerging medical field known as bioelectronic medicine1,2. However, little is known about the neuronal networks that mediate the effects of electroacupuncture at specific acupoints1,3. Writing in Nature, Liu et al.4 show in mice that a set of neurons expressing the protein Prokr2 are needed for electrical stimulation of a hindlimb acupoint to rein in the unbridled inflammatory responses that characterize lethal sepsis.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 598, 573-574 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02714-0

References

  1. Ulloa, L., Quiroz-Gonzalez, S. & Torres-Rosas, R. Trends Mol. Med. 23, 1103–1120 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Pavlov, V. A. & Tracey, K. J. Nature Neurosci. 20, 156–166 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Sharma, N. et al. Nature 577, 392–398 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Liu, S. et al. Nature 598, 641–645 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. van der Poll, T., van de Veerdonk, F. L., Scicluna, B. P. & Netea, M. G. Nature Rev. Immunol. 17, 407–420 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Ulloa, L. & Tracey, K. J. Trends Mol. Med. 11, 56–63 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Torres-Rosas, R. et al. Nature Med. 20, 291–295 (2014).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Bassi, G. S. et al. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 112, 363–373 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Vida, G. et al. FASEB J. 25, 4476–4485 (2011).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Choi, S. et al. Nature 587, 258–263 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Goldman, N. et al. Nature Neurosci. 13, 883–888 (2010).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Liu, S. et al. Neuron 108, 436–450 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Ulloa, L. Nature Rev. Drug Discov. 4, 673–684 (2005).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Wang, H. et al. Nature 421, 384–388 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Huston, J. M. et al. J. Exp. Med. 203, 1623–1628 (2006).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links