To investigate the molecular pathological mechanisms of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) and elucidate the effects of acupuncture on IBS-D colonic mucosa protein abundance in rats, a label-free high-throughput liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based proteomics analysis was used to survey the global changes of colonic mucosa proteins between different groups. Sixteen Sprague-Dawley (SD) male rats were randomly divided into four groups: the control group (C); the IBS-D model group (M); the syndrome differentiation acupuncture group (SD) and the traditional acupuncture group (T). IBS-D model rats were obtained using the CAS (chronic acute combining stress model) method. Comparative bioinformatics analysis of the proteomic data was analyzed using MaxQuant software, Perseus software, online tools DAVID, VENNY and STRING. Functional enrichment and network analyses revealed a close relationship between IBS-D and several biological processes including energy metabolism, muscular excitation/contraction, and both traditional acupuncture and syndrome differentiation acupuncture can reverse the impairments of normal energy metabolism. Moreover, the syndrome differentiation acupuncture can regulate the protein cluster relating inflammation, wound repair and cell protection against oxidative stress which is associated with acupuncture analgesic effect. Differentially expressed proteins Atp5a1 and Bpnt1 were selected as representative proteins and subjected to western blotting. In conclusion, our study provides further insight into the pathological and molecular mechanisms of IBS-D and acupuncture treatments, and serves as an experimental basis for clinical applications.

The aim of the present study was to analyse the gender differences in stress-related factors of university professors. A cross-sectional study was carried out, where gender differences in psychological, nutrition, physical activity, and oral health stress-related factors were analysed in 470 Spanish university professors (58.7% male and 41.3% female, 42.1 ± 9.2 years) through a compendium of questionnaires. The results showed how females presented significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher scores than males in perceived stress (females: 22.15 ± 4.40 vs. males: 19.69 ± 3.61), emotional exhaustion (females: 20.86 ± 9.51 vs. males: 16.44 ± 9.12), and neuroticism (females: 5.53 ± 1.97 vs. males: 4.77 ± 1.96). These results may be related to higher probabilities to suffer the burnout syndrome, showing possible physical symptoms of this psychological disorder such as dry mouth and gastritis or heartburn. We concluded that female professors presented higher burnout perceived stress, emotional exhaustion, and neuroticism levels than males. Females also presented higher dry mouth, gastritis, and heartburn than males. Female professors showed healthier nutritional habits than males, presenting higher consumption of milk products and fruit per day, a higher number of meals, and less eating between hours and fried food consumption. Nevertheless, females consumed fewer water glasses and practised less weekly sport than male professors.

With the aim to explore cultural differences in stress-related psychological, nutrition, physical activity, and oral health factors between Spanish and Latin American professors, we analysed stress-related factors in 598 professors (39.9% male, 60.1% female, 41.3 ± 9.8 years) by a collection of questionnaires, which involved psychological, nutritional, physical activity and oral health items. Results showed how Spanish professors presented significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher scores than Latin American professors in perceived stress (Spanish: 21.40 ± 4.32 vs. Latin American: 20.36 ± 4.31), teaching stress (Spanish: 6.59 ± 2.28 vs. Latin American: 6.00 ± 2.99) and neuroticism (Spanish: 5.40 ± 2.10 vs. Latin American: 4.58 ± 1.72). Spanish professors also showed healthier nutritional and physical activity habits than their Latin American counterparts, presenting higher consumption of milk products and a higher numbers of meals per day, greater weekly meat and fish consumption and higher weekly resistance training, as well as less eating between hours and snacking consumption. Nevertheless, Spanish professors brushed their teeth less and showed a higher smoking habit than Latin American professors. We concluded that there were cultural differences between Spanish and Latin American professors. In the present research, Spanish professors showed significantly higher burnout levels, teaching stress, perceived stress, and neuroticism than Latin American professors, and several differences were also found around health behaviours. These differences in perceived stress, teaching stress and burnout syndrome may be due to the habituation process of Latin American professors, and probably are associated with a higher stressful and demanding socio-cultural context.

• burnout
• nutrition
• oral health
• physical activity
• professors
• stress

• Adult
• Burnout, Psychological
• Exercise
• Female
• Humans
• Latin America
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Nutritional Status
• Oral Health
• Spain
• Stress, Physiological
• Stress, Psychological

• Postoperative gastrointestinal function
• Protocol
• Randomized controlled trials
• TEAS

• Abdomen/surgery
• Adult
• Electroacupuncture/methods
• Gastrointestinal Diseases/therapy
• Humans
• Length of Stay
• Pain, Postoperative/therapy
• Postoperative Complications/therapy
• Prospective Studies
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic
• Recovery of Function
• Treatment Outcome

• Bacteria
• Catecholamines
• Microbial endocrinology
• Microbial pathogens
• Microbiota
• Quorum sensing

Maternal separation (MS) in neonates can lead to intestinal injury. MS in neonatal mice disrupts mucosal morphology, induces colonic inflammation and increases trans-cellular permeability. Several studies indicate that intestinal epithelial stem cells are capable of initiating gut repair in a variety of injury models but have not been reported in MS. The pathophysiology of MS-induced gut injury and subsequent repair remains unclear, but communication between the brain and gut contribute to MS-induced colonic injury. Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is one of the mediators involved in the brain–gut axis response to MS-induced damage. We investigated the roles of the CRH receptors, CRHR1 and CRHR2, in MS-induced intestinal injury and subsequent repair. To distinguish their specific roles in mucosal injury, we selectively blocked CRHR1 and CRHR2 with pharmacological antagonists. Our results show that in response to MS, CRHR1 mediates gut injury by promoting intestinal inflammation, increasing gut permeability, altering intestinal morphology, and modulating the intestinal microbiota. In contrast, CRHR2 activates intestinal stem cells and is important for gut repair. Thus, selectively blocking CRHR1 and promoting CRHR2 activity could prevent the development of intestinal injuries and enhance repair in the neonatal period when there is increased risk of intestinal injury such as necrotizing enterocolitis.

• Amygdala
• Anxiety
• Emotions
• Intestine
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Microbiota
• Prefrontal cortex
• Sex hormones
• Stress
• Vagal tone

• Amygdala/physiopathology
• Animals
• Autonomic Nervous System/physiopathology
• Central Nervous System/physiopathology
• Combined Modality Therapy
• Disease Susceptibility
• Emotions
• Female
• Gastrointestinal Tract/innervation
• Gastrointestinal Tract/physiopathology
• Humans
• Hypnosis
• Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System/physiopathology
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome/epidemiology
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome/etiology
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome/psychology
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome/therapy
• Male
• Mindfulness
• Pituitary-Adrenal System/physiopathology
• Risk
• Sex Factors
• Stress, Physiological
• Stress, Psychological/physiopathology

• Faecal calprotectin
• anti-inflammatory treatment
• irritable bowel syndrome
• low-grade inflammation

• electroacupuncture
• electrogastrography
• gastric myoelectrical activity
• heart rate variability
• stress

In China, acupuncture has been considered an effective method for treating gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction diseases for thousands of years. In fact, acupuncture has gained progressive acceptance from both practitioners and patients worldwide. However, the therapeutic effects and underlying mechanisms in treating GI dysfunction have not yet been established due to a lack of systematic and comprehensive review articles. Therefore, the aim of this review is to discuss the efficacy of acupuncture as a treatment for GI dysfunction and the associated underlying mechanisms. A search of PubMed was conducted for articles that were published over the past 10 years using the terms “acupuncture”, “gastrointestine”, and other relevant keywords. In the following review, we describe the effect and underlying mechanisms of acupuncture on GI function from the perspectives of GI motility, visceral sensitivity, the GI barrier, and the brain-gut axis. The dual regulatory effects of acupuncture may manifest by promoting gastric peristalsis in subjects with low initial gastric motility, and suppressing peristalsis in subjects with active initial motility. In addition, the regulation of acupuncture on gastric motility may be intensity-dependent. Our findings suggest that further studies are needed to investigate the effects and more systematic mechanisms in treating GI dysfunction, and to promote the application of acupuncture for the treatment of GI diseases.

• Acupuncture
• Gastrointestinal motility
• Gastrointestinal barrier
• Visceral sensitivity
• Brain-gut axis

• Abdominal Pain/physiopathology
• Abdominal Pain/therapy
• Acupuncture Therapy
• Animals
• Brain/physiopathology
• Enteric Nervous System/physiopathology
• Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnosis
• Gastrointestinal Diseases/physiopathology
• Gastrointestinal Diseases/therapy
• Gastrointestinal Motility
• Gastrointestinal Tract/innervation
• Gastrointestinal Tract/physiopathology
• Humans
• Hyperalgesia/physiopathology
• Hyperalgesia/therapy
• Treatment Outcome

• anal canal
• electroencephalography
• evoked brain potentials
• pain
• rectum
• unpleasantness

AIM: To analyze the relationship among food intolerance, severity of symptoms and the number of mucosal mast cells (MCs) in the ileocecal junction (ICJ) in patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (D-IBS), and to explore the influence of food intolerance on the pathogenesis of D-IBS.

METHODS: Twenty-two patients with D-IBS fulfilling the Rome III criteria and 21 asymptomatic healthy controls underwent colonoscopy in which two adjacent biopsy samples were taken from the ICJ. Mucosal MCs were detected by toluidine blue staining. The Food Intolerance Questionnaire was used to evaluate the perceived food intolerance status of D-IBS patients and controls. The Functional Bowel Disorder Severity Index (FBDSI) and IBS Symptom Severity Scale (IBS-SSS) were used to evaluate the severity of symptoms in D-IBS patients. The relationship among the scores of FBDSI and IBS-SSS, the number of MCs and the scores of food intolerance in D-IBS patients was analyzed.

RESULTS: The number of mucosal MCs in the ICJ was significantly higher in patients with D-IBS than in controls (4.68 ± 0.55/HP vs 1.33 ± 0.54/HP, P < 0.001). Compared to controls, perceived FI was more frequent in patients with D-IBS (P < 0.05). The scores of FBDSI and IBS-SSS were positively correlated with that of food intolerance in D-IBS patients (FBDSI: r = 0.992, P < 0.001; IBS-SSS: r = 0.970, P < 0.001), and with the number of mucosal MCs in the ICJ (FBDSI: r = 0.957, P < 0.001; IBS-SSS: r = 0.985, P < 0.001). The scores of food intolerance in D-IBS patients were positively correlated with the number of mucosal MCs in the ICJ (r = 0.964, P < 0.001). The number of mucosal MCs in the ICJ were significantly higher in healthy subjects with self-reported food intolerance than in those without food intolerance (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The symptoms of D-IBS are positively correlated with increased number of enteric mucosal MCs which might be caused by food antigen. Food intolerance is more frequent in D-IBS patients than in controls. D-IBS symptoms may be caused or exacerbated by food intolerance.

• Food intolerance
• Diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome
• Ileocecal junction
• Mast cells
• Functional Bowel Disorder Severity Index
• IBS Symptom Severity Scale

Acupuncture has been proven to be effective in treating functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs), which are common digestive diseases. Recent studies have proven that dysfunction of the "Brain-Gut-Axis" (BGA) might be an important pathogenetic factor for FGIDs. The curative effect of acupuncture on FGIDs could mainly be attributed to its modulation effect on the BGA. Increasing attention has been paid to the study of the interaction between the central nervous system and brain-gut peptide in patients with FGIDs due to the development of functional imaging and the progress in research of the brain-gut peptide. Acupuncture has been extensively used in treating FGIDs clinically. Substantial studies have shown that acupuncture could modulate the central nervous system and the brain-gut peptide. In this article we are going to summarize the correlation between the brain-gut interaction and the curative effect of acupuncture in terms of central nervous system and the metabolism of brain-gut peptide.

• Brain-gut interaction
• Acupuncture
• Functional gastrointestinal disorders

• Humans
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome/physiopathology
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome/therapy