Acupuncture analgesia: a review of its mechanisms of actions.

CMUR > College of Chinese Medicine > Graduate Institute of Acupuncture Science > Journal articles > Item 310903500/3097

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://ir.cmu.edu.tw/ir/handle/310903500/3097

Title:	Acupuncture analgesia: a review of its mechanisms of actions.
Authors:	林昭庚(Jaung-Geng Lin)*;陳威良(Chen WL)
Contributors:	中醫學院針灸研究所;中國附醫院長室
Keywords:	Acupuncture;Acupuncture Analgesia;Mechanism
Date:	2008-11
Issue Date:	2009-08-20 17:59:29 (UTC+8)
Abstract:	The mechanism of acupuncture analgesia (AA) has been widely explored since the 1970s. Early studies investigated the relationship between acupuncture and endogenous opiates (β-endorphin, enkephalin, endomorphin and dynorphin). Before the 1990s, most experts agreed on the concept that in normal animal models, lower frequency electroacupuncture (EA) stimulates the release of β-endorphin, enkephalin and endomorphin, which in turn activates the μ- and δ-opioid receptors, and that higher frequency EA stimulates dynorphin which activates the κ-opioid receptor. Besides endogenous opiates, our studies have focused on serotonin. The serotoninergic descending inhibitory pathway is suggested to be an important mechanism of acupuncture analgesic, collaborating with endogenous opiates. Many efforts have been made to clarify these mechanisms, but to date no satisfactory consensus has been reached. In the late 1990s, researchers began to focus on the different analgesic effects of EA between normal and hyperalgesic animal models. Published data from these studies imply that normal and hyperalgesic animals respond differently to EA. Results from experiments on the anti-hyperalgesia effect of EA have raised a new issue about the influences of EA on receptors to excitatory amino acid in the spinal cord level. Results from various studies have shown that these receptors play a role in the mechanism of AA. Recently, research on the autonomic nervous system (ANS) seem to indicate its connection with acupuncture. The inflammatory reflex (via the ANS) might be a crucial part of anti-hyperalgesia elicited by acupuncture, and this reflex, which regulates the immune system in the organism, can elucidate not only the mechanism of AA but also the mechanism of acupuncture applied to other inflammatory conditions. Innovation of functional image study enables us to analyze the responses of cortex on living human body to acupuncture. However, results of these experiments are still controversial. After 30 years of acupuncture research, there are still many puzzles left to be solved regarding the mechanism of AA.
Relation:	AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CHINESE MEDICINE 36(4):635~645
Appears in Collections:	[Graduate Institute of Acupuncture Science] Journal articles

Files in This Item:

File	Size	Format
	58Kb	Unknown	719	View/Open

Loading...