Research progress on central autonomic nervous mechanism of acupuncture at Neiguan point in the treatment of atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia disease and is associated with several cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Consequently, the mortality rate of AF has increased in recent years. At present, the treatment of AF is mainly based on medication and radiofrequency ablation, but there are limitations such as adverse reactions and high recurrence rates. Recently, autonomic nervous regulation has become a new treatment for AF. Our previous study showed that acupuncture at Neiguan (PC6) point can treat AF by regulating autonomic balance. The autonomic nervous system can be structurally divided into the central autonomic nervous (CAN) and the peripheral autonomic nervous (PAN). Several studies have shown a correlation between acupuncture and the treatment of AF and CAN. In the clinic, the positive effect of acupuncture on AF has been realized gradually, and growing experimental studies have further discovered the potential mechanism of acupuncture on AF by regulating the CAN. Therefore, this review mainly focuses on summarizing the CAN mechanism related to acupuncture in the treatment of AF to provide new ideas and directions for the treatment of AF. Graphical abstract: http://links.lww.com/AHM/A63.