Study of the potential mechanism of acupuncture treatment for functional dyspepsia based on association rule mining and bioinformatics/network pharmacology approach

Objective: To explore the main acupoint prescription and mechanism of acupuncture in treating Functional dyspepsia (FD) by analyzing the clinical randomized controlled trial literature on acupoints and targets of acupuncture in the treatment of FD combined with association rule mining and bioinformatics/network pharmacology methods. Methods: Search relevant clinical randomized controlled trial literature on acupoints and therapeutic targets of acupuncture in the treatment of FD from eight databases from their inception to June 18th, 2022. We obtained acupuncture selection points, meridian, and therapeutic targets and established acupoints database for acupuncture treatment of FD. FD-related targets were collected from GeneCards, DisGeNET, OMIM, and DrugBank databases. We obtained the potential targets of acupuncture on FD by taking the intersection of acupuncture for FD therapeutic targets and FD-related targets. We performed the protein-protein interaction network, Gene Ontology (GO) analysis, and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis. Results: In this study, 26 Randomized Controlled Trials related to acupuncture treatment of FD were retrieved. We obtained 29 acupoints, 17 acupuncture for FD therapeutic targets, and 10 intersection targets. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF), Interleukin (IL)-1, and Neuropeptide Y (NPY) are key targets of acupuncture in the treatment of FD. Conclusion: ST36-CV12-PC6-LR3 is the main acupoint prescription for FD. Acupuncture may affect Neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, Gastric acid secretion, and IL-17, TNF signaling pathways by regulating related key targets, and play a synergistic role in the treatment of FD by inhibiting gastric acid secretion, alleviating inflammatory response, regulating the brain-gut axis, improving mood and other aspects.