Systematic acupuncture explains acupuncture at Baihui (GV20) and Fengchi (GB20) targeting the inflammatory response to regulate migraine.

OBJECTIVE: To take Baihui (GV20) and Fengchi (GB20) targeting inflammatory response to regulate migraine as an example to describe a new method for studying the mechanism of stimulating acupoints. METHODS: The target information of Baihui (GV20) and Fengchi (GB20) was retrieved, and after intersection with migraine, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG), Reactome, and UniProt Keywords were used for functional enrichment. After selecting the main pathway, rats were selected and nitroglycerin was used for modeling, and the behavioral scores, inflammatory factors, heme oxygenase 1 (HMOX1), protein kinase B (AKT1), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (P-ERK1/ERK2) and other states of the rats in the acupuncture, twisting, and electroacupuncture groups were compared. RESULTS: A total of 135 Baihui (GV20) targets and 27 Fengchi (GB20) targets were collected. A total of 73 target information were obtained after the intersection of these targets in migraine. These 73 targets have three main pathways: hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) signaling pathway, signaling by interleukins and inflammatory response. The main targets in the pathway were verified and found that interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and HMOX1, AKT1, STAT3, P-ERK1/ERK2 can be regulated by Baihui (GV20) and Fengchi (GB20). CONCLUSION: Baihui (GV20) and Fengchi (GB20) can regulate migraine by regulating inflammatory factors and HMOX1, AKT1, STAT3, P-ERK1/ERK2 and other changes in HIF-1 signaling pathway, Signaling by Interleukins and Inflammatory response pathways. Based on systems biology and network pharmacology, and with the model of "acupoint-target-disease", explore the research methods of systematic acupuncture and moxibustion. We believe this is a usable research direction for exploring the mechanism of acupuncture stimulation.