Electroacupuncture relieves pain-induced anxiety through prefrontal neural circuits

Chronic neuropathic pain, stemming from injury or disease affecting the somatosensory nervous system, presents a significant clinical challenge. This type of pain frequently becomes chronic and is often accompanied by emotional distress – up to 80% of individuals experiencing long-term pain also report symptoms of anxiety or depression. This interplay creates a cycle that complicates both treatment and quality of life.

Acupuncture’s Potential Role

Beyond Pain Relief

Acupuncture, an ancient Chinese practise, is increasingly recognized globally as a pain management option. It’s used for conditions like chronic back pain, migraines, and arthritis, and clinical trials have demonstrated its effectiveness for both acute and chronic pain. Research suggests acupuncture may also help manage the negative emotions often associated with pain. However, the specific brain mechanisms linking acupuncture to improvements in pain-related emotional disturbances have remained unclear.

Did You Know? Researchers used behavioral tests – including open field, elevated plus maze, forced swimming, and tail suspension assays – to assess anxiety and depression-like behaviors in a mouse model.

New Insights into Brain Activity

Researchers at Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine investigated whether acupuncture impacts the prefrontal cortex, a brain region known to integrate pain perception and emotional regulation. Their findings, reported in January 2025 in Acupuncture Research (DOI: 10.13702/j.1000-0607.20230755), indicate that electroacupuncture significantly reduced anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in mice with neuropathic pain. This effect was linked to the modulation of specific excitatory neurons.

How Electroacupuncture Works

The study demonstrated that the therapeutic benefits of electroacupuncture depend on activating glutamatergic neurons within the ventrolateral orbital cortex, a subregion of the prefrontal cortex involved in emotional processing. Researchers established a neuropathic pain model in mice through common peroneal nerve ligation. Daily electroacupuncture treatments were applied for seven days to hindlimb acupoints “Yanglingquan” (GV34) and “Xuanzhong” (GB34), commonly used in pain treatment.

Expert Insight: Identifying a specific neural circuit involved in pain-induced emotional responses could lead to more targeted and effective treatments, potentially reducing reliance on medications with broader systemic effects.

Results showed electroacupuncture improved emotional behaviors without affecting movement, suggesting a genuine anxiolytic and antidepressant effect. Chemogenetic tools were used to selectively activate or inhibit glutamatergic neurons. Activating these neurons replicated the emotional benefits of electroacupuncture, while inhibiting them blocked the treatment’s effect. Immunofluorescence analysis confirmed increased neuronal activation following electroacupuncture.

Looking Ahead

“Chronic pain is not merely a sensory experience—it fundamentally alters emotional brain circuits,” stated a senior author of the study. Researchers believe electroacupuncture can engage and restore activity in prefrontal glutamatergic neurons suppressed by long-term neuropathic pain, thereby alleviating emotional symptoms. This provides a biological explanation for the observed clinical improvements in both pain and mood.

These findings could lead to the development of precision neuromodulation therapies for chronic pain. Electroacupuncture, as a low-risk, non-pharmacological intervention, may offer a way to reduce the need for antidepressants or opioids, particularly for patients experiencing both pain and mood disorders. Further research could integrate traditional therapeutic techniques with modern brain circuit analysis to accelerate the development of evidence-based clinical practices.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is neuropathic pain?

Neuropathic pain is caused by injury or disease of the somatosensory nervous system and often evolves into a chronic condition.

What did researchers do to study the effects of acupuncture?

Researchers from Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine used a mouse model of neuropathic pain and applied electroacupuncture daily for seven days to specific hindlimb acupoints.

What part of the brain was found to be important in the effects of acupuncture?

The study found that electroacupuncture’s effects depended on the activation of glutamatergic neurons in the ventrolateral orbital cortex, a subregion of the prefrontal cortex.

As research continues to unravel the complex relationship between pain, emotion, and the brain, could integrative approaches like acupuncture play an increasingly important role in comprehensive pain management?