Electroacupuncture ameliorates Autism Spectrum Disorder via modulating the gut-brain axis depending on the integrity of vagus nerve

Oct 24, 2025Translational psychiatry

Electroacupuncture may improve autism symptoms by affecting the gut-brain connection depending on vagus nerve health

AI simplified

Gut-Brain Axis on OpenScience ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Abstract

Electroacupuncture markedly improves behavioral symptoms in mice with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

A strong association exists between ASD and influenced by gut microbiota and microglial activation.
Gut microbiota transplantation from electroacupuncture-treated mice to untreated ASD mice enhances behavioral outcomes.
Transplanting gut microbiota from ASD mice into electroacupuncture-treated mice diminishes the behavioral benefits of acupuncture.
Electroacupuncture demonstrates robust anti-neuroinflammatory effects in ASD mice, as indicated by analysis of inflammatory markers.
The therapeutic effects of acupuncture are linked to the diversity and abundance of gut microbiota and require intact vagus nerve signaling.

AI simplified

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disease characterized by behavioral and neurological abnormalities. Numerous pieces of evidence indicate a strong association between ASD and mediated by gut microbiota and microglial activation. Previous studies have shown that the therapeutic effects of an acupuncture protocol targeting the bacteria- in a well-established ASD mouse model induced by prenatal exposure to valproic acid (VPA). We demonstrated that electroacupuncture significantly alleviates behavioral symptoms in VPA model. However, the precise mechanisms remain insufficiently elucidated. In this study, we confirmed that electroacupuncture markedly improved behavioral symptoms in ASD mice. We conducted gut microbiota transplantation from electroacupuncture-treated mice to untreated ASD mice, improving behavioral outcomes in untreated ASD mice. Conversely, by transplanting gut microbiota from ASD mice into electroacupuncture-treated mice, we successfully mitigated the beneficial behavioral effects of acupuncture. We analyzed inflammatory markers in the microglial activation from cerebral cortex and hippocampus tissues, revealing that acupuncture exerts robust anti-neuroinflammatory effects in ASD mice. To further validate the mechanism, we performed vagotomy in ASD mice, which abolished the therapeutic benefits of acupuncture. Our findings establish that the behavioral improvements observed in ASD mice are intricately linked to the diversity and abundance of gut microbiota. Furthermore, regulatory effects of electroacupuncture on ASD behaviors are mediated via bacteria-gut-brain axis, dependent on intact vagus nerve signaling. This study provides compelling evidence for the potential of acupuncture to modulate central neuroinflammation through vagus nerve-mediated gut microbiota regulation, offering novel avenue into its therapeutic application for neurodevelopmental disorders such as ASD.

Key numbers

Increase in social interaction

Number of entries into the stranger mouse's chamber during social tests.

Reduction in inflammatory markers

Levels of IL-17A and TNF-α in cortical tissue samples of mice from different groups.

Full Text

We can’t show the full text here under this license. Use the link below to read it at the source.

View full text (PDF) ↗View full text (HTML) ↗

Electroacupuncture ameliorates Autism Spectrum Disorder via modulating the gut-brain axis depending on the integrity of vagus nerve

Abstract

Key numbers

Full Text

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the gut-brain axis brief

Abstract

Key numbers

Full Text

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

what lands in your inbox each week:

Recent issues from the gut-brain axis brief