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BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 1/2016

Open Access 01-12-2016 | Research article

Sex differences in acupuncture effectiveness in animal models of Parkinson's disease: a systematic review

Authors: Sook-Hyun Lee, Maurits van den Noort, Peggy Bosch, Sabina Lim

Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies | Issue 1/2016

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Abstract

Background

Many animal experimental studies have been performed to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Sex differences are a major issue in all diseases including PD. However, to our knowledge, there have been no reviews investigating sex differences on the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment for animal PD models. The current study aimed to summarize and analyze past studies in order to evaluate these possible differences.

Method

Each of 7 databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, 3 Korean medical databases, and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure) was searched from its inception through March 2015 without language restrictions.

Results

We included studies of the use of acupuncture treatment in animal models of PD. A total of 810 potentially relevant articles were identified, 57 of which met our inclusion criteria. C57/BL6 mice were used most frequently (42 %) in animal PD models. Most of the studies were carried out using only male animals (67 %); only 1 study (2 %) was performed using solely females. The further 31 % of the studies used a male/female mix or did not specify the sex.

Conclusions

The results of our review suggest that acupuncture is an effective treatment for animal PD models, but there is insufficient evidence to determine whether sex differences exist. Future studies of acupuncture treatment for PD should use female animal models because they reflect the physiological characteristics of both males and females to fully evaluate the effect and the safety of the treatment for each sex.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Sex differences in acupuncture effectiveness in animal models of Parkinson's disease: a systematic review
Authors
Sook-Hyun Lee
Maurits van den Noort
Peggy Bosch
Sabina Lim
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies / Issue 1/2016
Electronic ISSN: 2662-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12906-016-1405-5

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