Acupuncture holds promise for inflammatory disorder treatment

A recent study, by Dr. Ulloa and colleagues of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, published by the journal Nature Medicine (only research works of the highest quality got published there) reported that electroacupuncture may reduce inflammation that causes sepsis death. Sepsis, a condition that often develops in hospital intensive care units, is characterised by overwhelming inflammatory responses and infections. Although antibiotics are efficient in controlling infection, inflammation is not properly treated in sepsis. Sepsis causes the death of over 250,000 patients each year in the United States.

The study carried out on sepsis model showed that signals of electroacupuncture stimulation at Zusanli (ST36) passed through sciatic nerve to vagal nerve, then to adrenal glands. Electroacupuncture markedly increased the levels of aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase, a lyase enzyme, catalyzing levodopa to dopamine. Dopamine acts on dopamine D1 receptors to inhibit pro-inflammatory multiple cytokines such as tumour necrosis factor, reducing inflammation. The authors found that when electroacupuncture was applied to mice with sepsis, cytokines were reduced in the serum and half of mice survived for at least 7 days. No survival was found among mice that did not receive acupuncture. 

  

This study demonstrated one of strongest scientific evidence of acupuncture‘s value beyond any that has been shown before. The study also confirmed results of other reports that acupuncture is effective at modulating immune system and inhibit inflammatory response. These benefit not just for sepsis, but for treating other inflammatory-related disorders such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease.

Reference:

Torres-Rosas R et al., Dopamine mediates vagal modulation of the immune system by electroacupuncture. Nat Med. 2014 Mar;20(3):291-5. doi: 10.1038/nm.3479.   http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v20/n3/full/nm.3479.html

Acupuncture is beneficial to patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition characterized by a chronic inflammatory affecting many parts of body in particular the joints. It causes pain and swelling in joints, and usually starts in the wrists, hands or feet, and can spread to other joints, resulting in stiffness, progressive joint destruction and deformity. Rheumatoid arthritis gradually reduces patient’s physical function, quality of life and life expectancy. The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is not clear. People of any age can develop it, but it is most common between ages of 30 and 50 years, and among women. It is believed that genetic, diet, hormone imbalance have all been implicated as risk factors. There is no cure for rheumatoid arthritis. The standard treatment is to control pain and inflammation, reduce joint damage, disability and loss of function.

In china acupuncture is a popular choice for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Acupuncture not only alleviates pain caused by the condition but modulates immune system and decreases the inflammatory response resulting in swelling reduction. Clinical studies of acupuncture with rheumatoid arthritis showed that acupuncture reduced inflammatory enhancing chemical signals such as tumor necrosis factor and vascular endothelial growth factors in the blood and joint synovial of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Refence:

Ouyang BS et al., Effect of electro-acupuncture on tumor necrosis factor-α and vascular endothelial growth factor in peripheral blood and joint synovia of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Chin J Integr Med. 2011 Jul;17(7):505-9.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21725875