In the present paper

the authors review recent progress about the study on the underlying mechanism of acupuncture and moxibustion in protecting gastric mucosal tissues from lesion from 1) neuro-regulation

2) gastrointestinal hormones

3) gastric mucosal blood flow

4) body fluid factors

5) oxygen-derived free radicals

6) stomach wall barrier

etc. Moreover

the authors present some existed problems (such as clinical preventive treatment

observation on the long-term effect

fewer studies on the effect of acupuncture from cellular and molecular levels

etc.) in current scientific research about acupuncture and moxibustion

and suggest that future studies should focus on the comprehensive analysis about the mechanism of acupuncture in protecting the gastric tissue from lesion from the wholism

intracellular information transmission

molecular level

etc.