Electroacupuncture has been demonstrated in the lab to be able to significantly restore learning and memory impairment induced by diabetes and cerebral ischemia.
The study was done by the institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion of Beijings Academy of Medical Science.
Previuos investigations have demonstrated that elctroacupunctural stimulation can ameliorate primary and secondary symptoms such as peripheral neuropathy and diabetic encephalopathy in diabetic rats.
In this study, the Chinese researchers investigated wether electroacupuncture could improve learning and memory which was typically impaired in diabetic rats with cerebral ischemia.
After the electroacupuncture tteatment, the long-term potentiation (LTP) impaired by both diabetes and cerebral ischemia was restored significantly.
What is LTP? In Neuroscience, it is the longlasting improvement in comunication betweem two neurons that results from stimulating them simultaniously.
(Neuroscience Volume 443, Issue 3, 10 October 2008, pages 193-198)