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©The Author(s) 2026. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Feb 19, 2026; 16(2): 114736
Published online Feb 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i2.114736
Published online Feb 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v16.i2.114736
Electroacupuncture alleviates depression and gastrointestinal dysfunction by rebalancing GABAergic activity in the central amygdala
Hong-Kun Ma, College of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, Anhui Province, China
Hong-Kun Ma, Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Meridian Viscera Correlationship, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, Anhui Province, China
Shan-Lan Zhu, Xue-Yan Li, Qing-Yang Huang, Hao Wang, Guo-Ming Shen, Xi-Yang Wang, College of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (School of Life Science), Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei 230012, Anhui Province, China
Yi Yuan, School of Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Beijing 100029, China
Guo-Ming Shen, Institute of Health and Medicine, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei 230061, Anhui Province, China
Co-first authors: Hong-Kun Ma and Shan-Lan Zhu.
Co-corresponding authors: Guo-Ming Shen and Xi-Yang Wang.
Author contributions: Ma HK and Zhu SL played an important role in the conduct of the experiments and were designated as co-first authors; Ma HK, Zhu SL and Li XY performed animal experiments such as viral injections and behavioral tests, performed the data analysis and visualization, wrote the manuscript and drew the figures; Ma HK, Shen GM and Wang XY designed the all experiments; Yuan Y and Huang QY assisted in the experimental process and helped analyze the data; Wang H provided guidance on experimental methods and provided overall supervision; Shen GM and Wang XY were designated as co-corresponding authors for their roles in experimental design and guidance as well as overall management, revised the manuscript and provided financial support and project management; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82405244 and No. 82474224; Research Project of Xin’an Medical and Chinese Medicine Modernization Research Institute, No. 2023CXMMTCM016; Excellent Youth Project of Anhui Universities, No. 2022AH030065; and Open projects of Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Meridian Viscera Correlationship, No. 2024AHMVC04.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures complied with the institutional animal care standards of Anhui University of Chinese Medicine and were authorized by the Animal Ethics Committee (No. AHUCM-mouse-2024216).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest in publishing the manuscript.
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: Corresponding authors at xiyangw1@163.com may reasonably be asked to provide information about the data in this study.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xi-Yang Wang, PhD, College of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (School of Life Science), Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, No. 350 Longzihu Road, Hefei 230012, Anhui Province, China. xiyangw1@163.com
Received: September 28, 2025
Revised: November 6, 2025
Accepted: December 9, 2025
Published online: February 19, 2026
Processing time: 125 Days and 17.8 Hours
Revised: November 6, 2025
Accepted: December 9, 2025
Published online: February 19, 2026
Processing time: 125 Days and 17.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study reveals the pivotal role of central amygdala (CeA) GABAergic neurons in mediating depressive-like behavior and gastrointestinal dysfunction in mice subjected to chronic unpredictable mild stress. Chemogenetic manipulation confirmed that CeA GABAergic hyperactivation drives these comorbidities, while inhibition alleviates them. Electroacupuncture reduced depressive symptoms and gastric impairment by modulating CeA GABAergic activity. These findings highlight electroacupuncture as a promising therapy for depression with gastrointestinal comorbidity, offering new mechanistic insights into brain-gut interactions.