Although acupuncture including auricular acupuncture is
very effective in treating epilepsy the mechanism underlying its effectiveness
is not clear. Recently many biomedical studies of acupuncture on epileptic
models may help to shed light on those issues.
Epilepsy has been recognized as a disorder of brain
excitability characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures that arise from
abnormal, excessive and synchronous activities of clusters of nerve cells in
the brain. Epileptic hyperexcitability is believed involved in many factors,
among them the important determinant is the intrinsic electrogenic property of
neurons that depend on the function of ion channels, such as Na+, K+ and Ca+ channels
in cell membrane. In particular, Na+ channels are responsible for the
initiation and propagation of action potential, and are critical determinants
of intrinsic neuronal excitability. Many studies reported that acupuncture
stimulation at specific acupoints increased the release of opioid peptides and
their receptors including delta-opioid receptors, which were reported to have
inhibited Na+ channel activity, leading to acupuncture’s antiepileptic effect.
A brain region, the thalamus is also believed to play an important
role in the epilepticgenesis. Because the close connection between brain cortex
and thalamus and the abnormal hypersynchronized oscillation in the
thalamocortical network being linked to some forms of epilepsy. It has been
reported that acupuncture stimulation at acupoint GV14 inhibited epileptiform
activities in the ventral lateral thalamic neurons.
These studies suggest that acupuncture signals generated
from activation of receptors surrounding acupoint conveyed to the spinal cord
or medullar, then projected to the thalamus, activated opioid system leading to
the inhibition of epileptic hyperexcitability.
References:
Chen S et al., Acupuncture
for Refractory Epilepsy: Role of Thalamus. Evidence-Based Complementary and
Alternative Medicine. Volume 2014 (2014), Article ID 950631, 8 pages. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2014/950631 Chao D et al., From Acupuncture to Interaction between 𝛿-Opioid Receptors and Na+ Channels: A Potential Pathway to Inhibit Epileptic Hyperexcitability. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Volume 2013, Article ID 216016, 17 pages.
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/216016/
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