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Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine >

2026 , Vol. 46 >Issue 3: 768 - 778

DOI: https://doi.org/10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2026.03.017

Review

Acupuncture-driven exosomes: an emerging therapy

  • JIAN Jiawei ,
  • DING Zhimin ,
  • ZHUANG Yueyang ,
  • WANG Junzi ,
  • YANG Minguang ,
  • LIU Weilin
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  • 1 College of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou 350122, China
    2 the Institute of Rehabilitation Industry, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou 350122, China
First author contact:

JIAN Jiawei and DING Zhimin are co-first authors and contributed equally to this work

Prof. LIU Weilin, the Institute of Rehabilitation Industry, Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Fuzhou 350122, China. liuweilin12@fjtcm.edu.cn, Telephone: +86-594-1-22861227

Received date: 2025-03-21

  Accepted date: 2025-08-14

  Online published: 2026-06-08

Supported by

Fujian Outstanding Youth Science Foundation Project: Research on Electroacupuncture-mediated Regulation of Time-pattern-dependent Synaptic Plasticity in the Hippocampus of Rats with Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Its Mechanisms(2021J06028)

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Abstract

Acupuncture, as a significant component of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), has attracted increased attention for its mechanism of controlling the physiological functions of the human body and promoting the recovery of diseases by stimulating specific acupoints. Despite its long history and wide clinical application, the mechanism of action of acupuncture is still not fully understood. More research needs to be done on how acupuncture affects molecular communication and cellular function. Exosomes are nanoscale vesicles that rely on cellular multivesicular bodies (MVBs) fused with cell membranes to be released into the extracellular matrix. They are crucial for information transfer between cells and are currently a hot research topic in the world’s cutting-edge life sciences. Previous research has demonstrated that the therapeutic effect of acupuncture may be related to stimulating certain cells to secrete exosomes, that exosomes released may contain “acupuncture information”, and that manipulating the back-injection of exosomes to produces “acupuncture-like” effects. These findings suggest that exosomes could serve as a bridge between conventional acupuncture therapy and modern precision medicine. They also offer fresh prospects and difficulties for acupuncture translational medicine research. To better define the relationship between exosomes and acupuncture, we reviewed and systematized the literature on past studies related to exosomes and acupuncture. This paper provides a significant theoretical and experimental foundation for applying exosomes in precision medicine by summarizing and analyzing the relationship between acupuncture stimulation and exosome function. This is expected to promote the combination of traditional acupuncture therapy and modern biotechnology and bring innovation and progress to future medical practice.

Key words： acupuncture; exosomes; network regulation; medicine, Chinese traditional; mechanisms; review

Cite this article

JIAN Jiawei , DING Zhimin , ZHUANG Yueyang , WANG Junzi , YANG Minguang , LIU Weilin . Acupuncture-driven exosomes: an emerging therapy[J]. Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2026 , 46(3) : 768 -778 . DOI: 10.19852/j.cnki.jtcm.2026.03.017

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