Insulin resistance(IR)is a common pathophysiological basis of many chronic diseases

such as obesity

type2 diabetes mellitus(T2 DM)

nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

cerebral vascular disease

cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases

etc.Acupuncture therapy has been demonstrated to have a positive role in reducing IR level in clinical practice.In the present paper

we summarized development of researches on the mechanism of acupuncture therapy underlying improvement of IR in recent 10 years from 1)regulating expression of hypothalamic phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase(PI3 K)-p85 and PI3 K-P110 proteins in obesity rats;2)regulating the levels of some related proteins of insulin target tissues(liver and skeletal muscle)

such as insulin receptor substrate-1(IRS)-1 and-2

glucose transporter mRNAs and proteins

sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1(SREBP-1)and fatty acid synthetase proteins;3)suppressing inflammatory reaction of liver tissue and down-regulating serum adiponectin in T2 DM rats;4)raising the activity of superoxide dismutase(SOD)and reducing the levels of reactive oxygen species

and malondialdehyde(MDA)contents of quadriceps femoris in spontaneous IR rats;and 5)attenuating structural injury of pancreas islet and apoptosis of pancreaticβcells in diabetes rats.Multi-levels and various systems of the neuro-endocrine-immune networks are involved in the actions of acupuncture in the improvement of IR.In the future

more attention should be paid to the study on the acupoint specificity

suitable acupoint combinations and stimulus parameters in clinical treatment of IR related various metabolic diseases

further optimizing clinical treatment protocols.