Chinese medicine helps patients with muscular dystrophy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. Chinese medicine including acupuncture, herbs and Tuina holds potential to help alleviate symptoms and enhance muscle function of patients with DMD. A team of researchers combined a number of alternative therapies along with drug therapy to create a treatment regimen for DMD patients. During the study, the combined treatments resulted in a significant improvement in physical function and reduced inflammation in the patients’ bodies.

DMD was initially described by French neurologist Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne in the 1860s. Research studies identified the chromosomal mutation responsible for DMD in 1986. This mutation leads to a lack of dystrophin protein in muscle cells thereby making them fragile. Onset is between ages 3 – 5 and boys are predominantly affected, and the carrier is the mother because the gene mutation is X-linked. 

The research team enrolled 60 paediatric DMD patients at the Neurology and Rehabilitation Department at Zhengzhou Children’s Hospital, in China for a two-year randomized controlled trial.Upon enrolment, patients were divided into combined treatment and drug-only groups. The combined treatment group received acupuncture, far infrared therapy, TCM tuina massage, herbal medicine, and drug therapy, while the drug-only group received drug therapy alone.

Following treatment, patients saw a total effective rate improvement of 20% in the combined treatment group, including reduced physical impairments and improvements in both walking and staircase climbing, compared to the drug-only group. Total effective improvement is calculated using full recovery, significant recovery, and effective as three parameters of improvement. The calculation led to a total effective rate improvement of 93.3% in the combined treatment group and 73.3% in the drug-only group.

In addition, the combined treatment group experienced significant improvements in enzymes and saw a reduction in serum inflammatory markers such as creatine phosphokinase (CPK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and aspartate transaminase (AST). Enhanced enzyme profiles were indicative of lower inflammation in the combined treatment group when compared to the drug-only group.

The study showed that the combination of multiple types of CM with conventional drug treatment significantly improved physical impairment and reduced in inflammatory related muscle enzyme secretions. The further study with large size samples is warranted.

Reference

Meng, QP (2015). The clinical effects of combining acupuncture and physical therapy with drugs in treating children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Chinese Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 2015; 37(6): 446-448.      http://wprim.whocc.org.cn/local/detail.jsp?channelid=75002&searchword=WPRIMID%3D884699

Scalp acupuncture reduced neurological deficits in a model of hemorrhagic stroke

Scalp acupuncture was shown to improve neurological deficits induced by intracerebral hemorrhage in a rat model. The study was recently published in the journal of Complementary Therapies in Medicine.

Scalp acupuncture is a modern acupuncture technique in which needles are penetrated the specific area of the scalp or lines on the scalp. Scalp acupuncture differs significantly from classic acupuncture in that it has its own theoretical basis and its acupoints are quite different from traditional acupoints. Scalp acupuncture has been effectively used to treat many neurological disorders including stroke. However, its mechanisms underlying its effectiveness were not well illustrated.

Recently Dr. H Liu and colleagues conducted a pre-clinical study to investigate the effect of scalp acupuncture on neurological dysfunction of intracerebral hemorrhage stroke rat model, and further the mechanism relating to the therapeutic effect. Rat model of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) received scalp acupuncture at acupoint DU20 through GB7 on the lesion side, for 30 mins, twice a day, from day one of surgery for consecutive 7 days. A group of intracerebral hemorrhage model not receiving scalp acupuncture and a group of sham surgery and a group of naïve were used as controls. Behavioural testing included a composite neurological scale, corner turn test, forelimb placing test, wire hang task and beam walking were conducted at days 3 and 7, followed by biochemical studies such as western blot analysis and histopathologic examination.

The data showed that at 3 days after intracerebral hemorrhage, there was no significant difference of behavioural tests between scalp acupuncture group and ICH and sham control groups compared to naïve control. However, at day 7 after surgery, there was a significant improvement of neurological deficits in scalp acupuncture treated group compared with ICH and sham control groups. Biochemical studies showed that brain content of tumour necrosis factor alpha and nuclear factor KappaB protein expression was markedly decreased in scalp acupuncture group compared with ICH and sham groups.  

The results demonstrated that improved behavioural effects by scalp acupuncture were associated with improvement in pathological features and decreased markers of inflammation in rat model of intracerebral hemorrhage.

Reference

H Liu et al., Scalp acupuncture attenuates neurological deficits in a rat model of hemorrhagic stroke. Complementary Therapies in Medicine 32 (2017) 85–90.    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28619309