Acupuncture therapy has been widely used in clinical treatment of consciousness

cognitive function

mental and motor disorders after intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH) in China

and has achieved good results. We

in the present paper

summarized development of studies on the underlying mechanism of acupuncture therapy for ICH in recent 20 years. Outcomes showed that acupuncture can relieve symptoms of ICH by 1) inhibiting inflammatory response

2) alleviating brain edema

3) inhibiting apoptosis

4) activating autophagy

5) inhibiting iron death

6) alleviating oxidative stress

7) promoting nerve regeneration

8) improving brain circulation

9) regulating neurotransmitter levels

and 10) promoting angiogenesis. In the future

we suggest that clinical trials for exploring the rule of dialectical acupoint selection in the treatment of ICH should be strengthened

and in-depth studies on the interrelation among the acupuncture targets are conducted to improve the theory of acupuncture effects.