For today’s survey of acupuncture research I focused mainly on finding clues to acupuncture’s method of action, checking articles listed on the pubMed site within the last 5 years.
A few articles stood out for me: one regarding the possible physiological action of acupuncture on General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), another took a deeper look at the current belief that acupuncture’s pain relieving effect is due to its action on beta-endorphins, and the final article compared the efficacy of acupuncture vs. placebo on patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
The first study indicates that GAD is positively effected by acupuncture; and that because the acupuncture groups showed a decrease in plasma levels of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and platelet 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin), the improvement was most likely due to the regulatory effect of these compounds. Interestingly, they also measured plasma levels of corticosteroid (CS) which showed no significant change. This is interesting because corticosteroids in the body are related to systems of stress, inflammation and immunity which are all thought to be effected by acupuncture. This either means that acupuncture works on these systems through a different path, or that additional studies need to be performed to confirm acupuncture has no effect on corticosteroid levels. My hope is that further research is conducted on the effect of acupuncture on serotonin, it being such a wide ranging and influential neurotransmitter.
The second article questions previous, oft-cited research that correlated acupuncture’s pain relieving feature to its effect on the beta-endorphin’s in the body. This current research found no such increase in in blood plasma levels of beta-endorphins in any of their treatment groups (which included real acupuncture, sham acupuncture, real electro-acupuncture, electro-acupuncture at non-acu points, and a standard pain treatment). This finding led me to look back for the original research. As with my previous blog reexamining coffee research, I wanted to make sure I was current with research related to my field and not just regurgitating assumptions I learned in school. I was able to find out that the early research concerning acupuncture and beta-endorphins were largely performed on mice and rabbits using electro-acupuncture of varying frequencies and focused mainly on beta-endorphin levels in the cerebrospinal fluid or physiological systems related to beta-endorphins in order to extrapolate their correlations. Many were also poorly executed. More recent research has apparently been confusing and contradictory on the subject, and also mainly focused on electro-acupuncture. For a fascinating read on the subject, go here. This finding obviously brings up the points: what effect does acupuncture have in low stress situations on beta-endorphins in the CSF, and if it is not plasma beta-endorphin levels that are providing the analgesic effect from acupuncture then what is? For a further look into this question, I found this article online.
The third fascinating article stated their assumption that the improvement of quality of life in IBS patients treated with acupuncture was due to placebo. However, their results indicated real physiological effects in the real acupuncture group over the sham acupuncture group while both groups reported positively on quality of life questionnaires without significant differences. Put simply, both the real and placebo groups reported improvements while only the acupuncture group showed changes in the physiological systems being monitored. The researchers concluded that “…different mechanisms seem to be involved in placebo and real-acupuncture driven improvements” and thus further research was warranted. Their measurements specifically showed that acupuncture decreased heart rate during a tilt table test, decreased morning salivary cortisol levels and improved pain, which all relate to improvement of the parasympathetic nervous system. This study brings up the questions: what other physiological systems are in play that are leading to the improved quality of life scores, and what is creating the improvements in the placebo group?
Today’s research survey once again proves that much more quality research on acupuncture is in order. Fully understanding how acupuncture works will help it be used more effectively and, I believe, will help lead to a better understanding of many physiological systems within a western medicine perspective; especially with regards to pain,neuroscience , etc… I think I have also proved to myself that research can be extremely difficult and I would like to thank all of the dedicated researchers looking into this exciting and often confounding new field, keep up the good work!
For today’s survey of acupuncture research I focused mainly on finding clues to acupuncture’s method of action, checking articles listed on the pubMed site within the last 5 years.
A few articles stood out for me: one regarding the possible physiological action of acupuncture on General Anxiety Disorder (GAD), another took a deeper look at the current belief that acupuncture’s pain relieving effect is due to its action on beta-endorphins, and the final article compared the efficacy of acupuncture vs. placebo on patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
The first study indicates that GAD is positively effected by acupuncture; and that because the acupuncture groups showed a decrease in plasma levels of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and platelet 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin), the improvement was most likely due to the regulatory effect of these compounds. Interestingly, they also measured plasma levels of corticosteroid (CS) which showed no significant change. This is interesting because corticosteroids in the body are related to systems of stress, inflammation and immunity which are all thought to be effected by acupuncture. This either means that acupuncture works on these systems through a different path, or that additional studies need to be performed to confirm acupuncture has no effect on corticosteroid levels. My hope is that further research is conducted on the effect of acupuncture on serotonin, it being such a wide ranging and influential neurotransmitter.
The second article questions previous, oft-cited research that correlated acupuncture’s pain relieving feature to its effect on the beta-endorphin’s in the body. This current research found no such increase in in blood plasma levels of beta-endorphins in any of their treatment groups (which included real acupuncture, sham acupuncture, real electro-acupuncture, electro-acupuncture at non-acu points, and a standard pain treatment). This finding led me to look back for the original research. As with my previous blog reexamining coffee research, I wanted to make sure I was current with research related to my field and not just regurgitating assumptions I learned in school. I was able to find out that the early research concerning acupuncture and beta-endorphins were largely performed on mice and rabbits using electro-acupuncture of varying frequencies and focused mainly on beta-endorphin levels in the cerebrospinal fluid or physiological systems related to beta-endorphins in order to extrapolate their correlations. Many were also poorly executed. More recent research has apparently been confusing and contradictory on the subject, and also mainly focused on electro-acupuncture. For a fascinating read on the subject, go here. This finding obviously brings up the points: what effect does acupuncture have in low stress situations on beta-endorphins in the CSF, and if it is not plasma beta-endorphin levels that are providing the analgesic effect from acupuncture then what is? For a further look into this question, I found this article online.
The third fascinating article stated their assumption that the improvement of quality of life in IBS patients treated with acupuncture was due to placebo. However, their results indicated real physiological effects in the real acupuncture group over the sham acupuncture group while both groups reported positively on quality of life questionnaires without significant differences. Put simply, both the real and placebo groups reported improvements while only the acupuncture group showed changes in the physiological systems being monitored. The researchers concluded that “…different mechanisms seem to be involved in placebo and real-acupuncture driven improvements” and thus further research was warranted. Their measurements specifically showed that acupuncture decreased heart rate during a tilt table test, decreased morning salivary cortisol levels and improved pain, which all relate to improvement of the parasympathetic nervous system. This study brings up the questions: what other physiological systems are in play that are leading to the improved quality of life scores, and what is creating the improvements in the placebo group?
Today’s research survey once again proves that much more quality research on acupuncture is in order. Fully understanding how acupuncture works will help it be used more effectively and, I believe, will help lead to a better understanding of many physiological systems within a western medicine perspective; especially with regards to pain,neuroscience , etc… I think I have also proved to myself that research can be extremely difficult and I would like to thank all of the dedicated researchers looking into this exciting and often confounding new field, keep up the good work!