Electroacupuncture effects on the disintegration of beta amyloid sheets: Its application to Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract

Recent research indicates that electroacupuncture could help patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Indeed, certain acupoints, when stimulated by electric pulses, activate particular parts of the brain, the details of which have been revealed by magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography. Observed stimulated regions of the brain of Alzheimer’s patients can be compared with the images obtained by fluorescence technique with a proper dye in Alzheimer’s brain sections. This article provides support based on Western medical science for the treatment of Alzheimer’s with electroacupuncture. Electroacupuncture acts in different and efficient ways. First, the positive charge of the electric pulses helps to detach from the neuron or the neuron membranes b amyloid peptides, which have been associated with the pathogenesis of the disease. In addition to this, the presence of the carboxyl group of b amyloids suffers a torque in the presence of an electric field and creates a serious deformation. Lastly, the moderate shaking originating from the electric pulses facilitates the partial disintegration of the b sheet, a frequent conformational change of the b amyloid peptide.