Acupuncture and moxibustion reversed pathological changes in Crohn’s disease

Crohn’s disease is a chronic inflammatory condition, which can affect the whole of the digestive tract from mouth to anus. Inflammation extends to all layers of gut wall and often in patch surrounded by healthy tissue. The most commonly affected sites are the lower part of the small intestine and the first part of the large intestine. Symptoms include abdominal pain, fever, chronic diarrhea and loss of appetite.  Symptoms can come and go and vary depending on which part or parts of gut are affected. Crohn’s disease often develops between the ages of 20 and 40, although it can occur in children and old adults. Malnutrition and dehydration are common complications of Crohn’s. The cause of Crohn’s disease is unknown though it is believed that the immune system, genetics, infection and environmental factor all contribute to its development. There is no cure for Crohn’s disease. Medication and diet only help control the condition and sometime bring about long-term remission.

Acupuncture is increasingly used to treat Crohn’s disease in western countries. It effectively treats patients with Crohn’s disease by alleviating visceral pain, improve diarrhea and appetite. How does acupuncture improve Crohn’s disease is not well understood until recent reports. The basic research study on Crohn’s disease model reported that acupuncture and moxibustion specifically regulated the expression of the genes and proteins involved in Crohn’s pathological process such as fibrosis. The proteins and genes e.g. Ras, Raf-1, MEK-1, and ERK-1/2 were significantly increased in the fibrosis gut tissues of Crohn’s model. Acupuncture and moxibustion reversed the process of fibrosis and markedly decreased the elevated levels of those proteins and genes. The study suggests that acupuncture and moxibustion exert the therapeutic effect by specifically regulating molecular and cellular molecules to reverse the pathological changes in Crohn’s disease model.

Reference:

Wang X et al., Moxibustion Inhibits the ERK Signaling Pathway and Intestinal Fibrosis in Rats with Crohn's Disease. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:198282. doi: 10.1155/2013/198282.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23970928