Copyright: ©Author(s) 2026. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Diabetes. Sep 15, 2026; 17(9): 120935
Published online Sep 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.120935
Published online Sep 15, 2026. doi: 10.4239/wjd.120935
Electroacupuncture alleviates diabetic peripheral neuropathy: Regulates mitochondrial biogenesis and redistribution in peripheral nerve fibers
Xuan Wang, College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Medical College, Yancheng 224005, Jiangsu Province, China
Xuan Wang, Chong-Xi Yuan, Yun Liu, Meng-Jiang Lu, Tian-Cheng Xu, Zhi Yu, Bin Xu, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China
Chong-Xi Yuan, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Suzhou Xiangcheng People’s Hospital, Suzhou 215100, Jiangsu Province, China
Wei-Feng Li, Yancheng Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Yancheng 224000, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Xuan Wang and Chong-Xi Yuan.
Co-corresponding authors: Zhi Yu and Bin Xu.
Author contributions: Wang X and Yuan CX contributed equally to this work as co-first authors; Wang X, Yuan CX, Liu Y, Li WF, Xu TC, Lu MJ, and Yu Z performed the animal experiments and collected the data; Wang X, Yuan CX, and Xu B analyzed and interpreted the data; Wang X drafted the manuscript; Wang X and Xu B supervised the study and contributed equally to this work as co-corresponding authors; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82405567, No. 82074532, No. 82374577, No. 82305375, No. 82305376, and No. 82505663; the Applied Basic Research Program of Yancheng, No. YCBK2025031; the Jiangsu Province Young Scientific and Technological Talents Promotion Plan, No. JSTJ-2025-890; and the Suzhou Science and Technology Innovation Project of Applied Basic Research (Medical and Health), No. SYW2024163.
Institutional review board statement: This study does not involve any human experiments.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All animal experiments conformed to the internationally accepted principles for the care and use of laboratory animals. All animal experimental procedures were conducted according to the guidelines for animal experimentation of the Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine and were approved by the Ethics Committee for Animal Experimentation (No. 202110A001).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Corresponding author: Bin Xu, MD, Doctor, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, No. 138 Xianlin Road, Nanjing 210023, Jiangsu Province, China. xubin@njucm.edu.cn
Received: March 12, 2026
Revised: April 23, 2026
Accepted: June 17, 2026
Published online: September 15, 2026
Processing time: 172 Days and 17.5 Hours
Revised: April 23, 2026
Accepted: June 17, 2026
Published online: September 15, 2026
Processing time: 172 Days and 17.5 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: Current treatments for diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) remain limited, and new therapeutic strategies are needed. This study suggests that electroacupuncture (EA) exerts protective effects in type 2 DPN rats and may be associated with silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1)/peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α-mediated mito