Image via WikipediaPARIS: Acupuncture eases pain in the limbs because it releases a natural molecule called adenosine, neuroscientists in the United States reported on Sunday.
The mechanism was discovered through experiments in lab mice, which were given an injection of an inflammation-inducing chemical in their right paw.
The researchers inserted fine needles below the midline of the mice's knee, at a well-known acupuncture location called the Zusanli point.
They rotated the needle gently every five minutes for 30 minutes, mimicking a standard acupuncture treatment.
During and just after this operation, levels of adenosine in the tissues surrounding the needle surged 24-fold. The mouse's discomfort -- measurable by the rodents' response time to touch and heat -- was reduced by two-thirds.
The same test was carried out on mice that had been genetically engineered to lack adenosine. The acupuncture failed to have any effect, and the mice reacted in discomfort, as before.
The team then experimented with an adenosine booster. They gave mice a leukaemia drug called deoxycoformycin, which makes it harder for tissues to remove adenosine.
As a result, levels of adenosine accumulated in the muscles, nearly tripling the duration of the acupuncture's effectiveness.
"Acupuncture has been a mainstay of medical treatment in certain parts of the world for 4,000 years, but because it has not been understood completely, many people have remained skeptical," said Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, who headed the research.
Previous work has focussed on acupuncture's effectiveness on the central nervous system -- the trunk of nerves in the spinal cord and brain -- rather than the peripheral nervous system.
In the central nervous system, acupuncture creates signals that cause the brain to produce powerful anti-pain chemicals called endorphins.
The paper is published by the journal Nature Neuroscience. - AFP/fa
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/health/view/1060029/1/.html
How Adenosine Works With Acupuncture
Adenosine is a natural compound that is known to regulate sleep, and has anti-inflammatory properties. Adenosine also acts as a natural painkiller by inhibiting nerve signals which signal the brain to feel pain. Adenosine dramatically increases the effects of acupuncture treatments by almost tripling the amount of adenosine in the muscles where acupuncture treatments are administered.
Research already shows that acupuncture creates signals in the brain that cause the body to produce the larger amounts of endorphins; another natural painkiller found in the body. This study shows has revealed the role of adenosine in acupuncture treatments.
For many people, acupuncture is a mainstay in their fight to relieve pain. Although it isn’t completely understood just how it works, thousands of people will attest that it does.
http://health-insurance-carriers.com/blog/acupuncture-coverage/
H.2010.06.11 - Acupuncture & Adenosine
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