Research progress on the mechanism of acupuncture improving Alzheimer’s disease by regulating mitochondrial function

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disease, and mitochondrial dysfunction is closely related to the pathogenesis of AD. Acupuncture is one of the effective methods for treating AD, which can significantly improve AD symptoms and delay disease progression, and research on its mechanism of action has been continuously deepened. This article combs and summarizes the relevant studies on acupuncture regulating mitochondrial function to improve AD. The results show that acupuncture restores and maintains mitochondrial function mainly by protecting mitochondrial morphology and structure, improving mitochondrial dynamics, regulating mitochondrial energy metabolism, modulating mitophagy, maintaining mitochondrial calcium homeostasis, reducing oxidative stress damage, and inhibiting cell apoptosis, thereby exerting a therapeutic effect on AD. Existing studies have limitations, such as focusing more on single factor of mitochondrial dysfunction, rarely considering the involvement mechanism of other cells besides neurons, incomplete experimental design schemes, and failing to consider the connection between disease stages and mitochondrial dysfunction. Future studies need to explore the functional status of mitochondria at different stages of AD pathogenesis and the specific regulatory effect of acupuncture.