In recent years

many studies have confirmed the positive effect of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome(IBS)

and a lot of researches have been made to explore its neurobiological mechanisms. The neurobiological mechanisms include two aspects 1) remission of visceral hypersensitivity via peripheral and central pathways(spinal cord and brain)

and 2) improvement of intestinal motility via vagus nerve and enteric nervous system(ENS)-interstitial cells of Cajal(ICC)-smooth muscle cells(ENS-ICC-SMC) network

and 5-HT

vasoactive intestinal peptide(VIP)

neuropeptide Y

etc.. At the same time

we also discussed the existing problems in the research of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of acupuncture and moxibustion for IBS. The existing problems in this field mainly include 1) fragmentization or lack of integrity in researches

and 2) limitation of the reductionism method. For this reason

we should draw lessons from the research methods of systematic science to study the neurobiological mechanisms of acupuncture and moxibustion in the treatment of IBS

including the detailed links of peripheral and central nervous transmission of acupoint stimulation signals

and the interactive action modes(two-way benign regulation

multi-target regulation

saturation regulation

etc.).