OBJECTIVE To study the humoral factor of acupuncture in improving functional activities of the organism. METHODS Neurons of the cerebral cortex from the new born rats were taken to be cultured in a strictly controlled medium. Seven to ten days later, fluorescein-molecular probe Fluo-3AM was used for staining intracellular Ca(2+). Ca(2+) concentration and its changes after application of acupu...

Acupuncture produces physiological effects via stimulating acupoints, proximal or distal to the region of effect. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) noninvasively measures tissue-level hemodynamics in real time. We review the literature investigating the effect of acupuncture on muscular and/or cerebral microcirculation. As the basis, we queried PubMed in June 2014 for articles mentioning both a...

Acupuncture and electroacupuncture have been used to improve the brain and motor functions of poststroke patients, and aspirin is used for the prevention of stroke recurrence. Our hypothesis is that acupuncture and electroacupuncture treatments may interact with aspirin in terms of pharmacokinetics via affecting the brain blood flow. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential interac...

Acupuncture is a therapy based on sensory stimulation of the human body by means of metal needles. The exact underlying mechanisms of acupuncture have not been clarified so far. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become an important tool in acupuncture research. Standard acupuncture needles, which are made of ferromagnetic steel, however, are problematic in acupuncture-fMRI studie...

OBJECTIVE Headache affects the quality of life for many people throughout the world. Tension headache is among the commonest forms. Acupuncture is the most widely practised non-medicinal treatment for headaches. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of laser acupuncture in this type of headache. METHODS Fifty patients with chronic tension-type headache were randomly allocated t...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of acupuncture on in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes. DESIGN Systematic review and meta-analysis. PATIENT(S) Women undergoing IVF in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) who were evaluated for the effects of acupuncture on IVF outcomes. SETTING Not applicable. INTERVENTION(S) The intervention groups used manual, electrical, and laser acupuncture techni...

OBJECTIVE the primary aim was to determine if laser acupuncture (LA) is more effective than sham laser in reducing pain and disability in adults with chronic non-specific low back pain. METHODS the design was a double blind, two-group parallel randomised controlled trial. The active intervention was an 830 nm (infrared), 10 mW, Ga-Al-As laser diode laser for acupuncture and a sham control. Th...

To verify the ancient theory of rather missing the acupoint than missing the meridian, acupuncture at nonacupoint on meridian and acupuncture at nonacupoint off meridian were performed, respectively. The blood perfusion (BP) on the calf around bladder meridian area was measured with a laser Doppler perfusion imager before, during, and after acupuncture. The whole scanning field was divided into...