NCT03343262

Mechanisms Underlying the Regulation of Impaired Glucose Tolerance by Auricular Concha Electro-acupuncture

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 158 (estimated)
• Sponsor: China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 20 Years – 70 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) is an abnormal metabolic state following glucose metabolic steady state but prior to diabetes. IGT is an important stage during the progression of diabetes, with an underlying mechanism of insulin resistance and pancreatic β cell dysfunction. IGT is one of the diseases that shows significant beneficial response to acupuncture treatment. Original findings from the investigators'laboratory show that transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) which is innervated by vagus nerve, would enhance the activity of pancreatic β cells, promote the secretion of insulin, upregulate the expression of insulin receptors in central as well as peripheral tissues, thus to improve glycometabolism. In this study, the investigators would further illuminate the mechanism of taVNS at "yidan-pi" auricular acupoints on the regulation of glucose metabolism, its improvement of the IGT state in rat model, as well as its regulation effect on insulin receptor expression and insulin resistance, and systematically illustrate the clinical effective of this treatment on IGT, with emphasize on its influence on the concentrations of glucose and HbA1c, and thus provide an effective proposal for clinical acupuncture.

Conditions

• Impaired Glucose Tolerance

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	ta-VNS	The transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) at auricular concha is a typical representative of TCM modernization. The taVNS regulates the autonomic nervous system, which shows a good therapeutic effect for the treatment of IGT.
OTHER	Electro-acupuncture	one of the most common acupuncture methods, selecting acupoints based on traditional Chinese medicine theory. It exerts the function to regulate qi and blood circulation and balance Yang and Yin energy inside body.

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-01-01
• Primary completion: 2019-12-31
• Completion: 2020-12-31
• First posted: 2017-11-17
• Last updated: 2017-11-22