Background: Vascular dementia is a cognitive dysfunction syndrome caused by cerebral vascular factors such as ischemic stroke and hemorrhagic stroke. The effect of acupuncture on vascular dementia models is ambiguous, and there is controversy about whether acupuncture has a placebo effect. Oxidative stress and inflammation are the most essential mechanisms in preclinical studies of vascular dementia. However, there is no meta-analysis on the mechanism of vascular dementia in animal models. It is necessary to explore the efficacy of acupuncture through Meta-analysis of preclinical studies. Methods: Three major databases, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science (including medline), were searched in English until December 2022.The quality of the including literature was assessed using SYRCLE’s risk of bias tool. Review Manager 5.3 was used to statistically summarize the included studies and the statistical effect values were expressed by SMD. The outcomes included: behavioral tests (escape latency, number of crossings), pathological sections (Nissl and TUNEL staining), oxidative stress markers (ROS, MDA, SOD, GSH-PX) and neuroinflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6). Results: A total of 31 articles were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed that the escape latency, the contents of ROS, MDA, IL-1β, and IL-6 were decreased, and the contents of SOD and Nissl-positive neurons were increased in the acupuncture group as compared with the non-group (P < .05). Compared with the impaired group, the acupuncture group also had the above advantages (P < .05). In addition, the acupuncture group also increased the number of crossings and GSH-PX content, and decreased the expression of TUNEL-positive neurons and TNF-α (P < .05). Conclusions: From behavioral tests to slices and pathological markers in animal models of vascular dementia, it can be proved that acupuncture is effective in targeting oxidative stress and neuroinflammatory damage, and acupuncture is not a placebo effect. Nevertheless, attention needs to be paid to the gap between animal experiments and clinical applications.

This study aimed to map the knowledge structure, evolutionary trends, and research frontiers in animal experiments on Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) from 2014 to 2025 using a bibliometric approach. We retrieved 1520 relevant articles from the Web of Science Core Collection. CiteSpace software was employed to analyze publication trends, collaboration networks (countries, institutions, authors), keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and citation bursts. Metrics such as frequency, betweenness centrality, and burst strength were used to identify significant patterns. Annual publications peaked in 2017 before entering a plateau. The United States and China were the most productive countries, with the strongest collaborative link. Research focus has evolved from foundational pathology (Aβ, tau) to mechanisms like oxidative stress and, more recently, to neuroinflammation, the gut-brain axis, mitophagy, and exosomes, as indicated by strong citation bursts (e.g., neuroinflammation burst strength = 7.89). Keyword and cluster analysis confirmed this shift towards systems-level biology. This analysis delineates the dynamic landscape of MCI animal research, highlighting a clear transition from molecular to systems biology. The identified hotspots and collaboration patterns offer valuable insights for guiding future research directions and fostering strategic partnerships in the field.