The cutaneous intrinsic visceral afferent nervous system: A new model for acupuncture analgesia

The mechanism of acupuncture, whilst not known with certainty, has previously been considered to be stimulatory. A novel hypothesis is presented here in which C fiber tactile afferent axons bifurcate at acupuncture points and then diverge, running along acupuncture meridians, to subsequently communicate with Merkel cells. It is proposed that acupuncture disrupts the bifurcation of these axons, preventing neural transmission between Merkel cells as well as central communication with the spinal cord. Making use of the known phenomenon that acupuncture points have lower electrical resistance than adjacent skin, this hypothesis was tested using an electrical circuit model and successfully predicted the observed 10³ reduction in skin resistance at acupuncture points. In addition to explaining acupuncture and the roles of both Merkel cells and C fiber tactile afferents, the model has greater implications for neuroscience, through the postulation of a new division of the autonomic nervous system.     

孙氏腹针治疗肝气郁结型广泛性焦虑症患者的临床观察

目的:观察孙氏腹针治疗肝气郁结型广泛性焦虑症的临床疗效。方法:采用随机对照方法,将符合纳入标准的60例病例随机分为两组。试验组采用孙氏腹针腹一区、腹八区及常规针刺,对照组采用常规针刺。将随机对照的两组患者治疗前,治疗1周后,治疗2周后,治疗3周后的疗效进行对比,其中临床疗效以汉密尔顿焦虑量表评分减分率为评价标准。结果:以汉密尔顿焦虑量表评分减分率来评价疗效,试验组治疗3周后总有效率为93.33%,对照组治疗3周后总有效率为80.00%,经统计学处理,二者差异有显著性(P0.05)。结论:针刺孙氏腹针腹一区、腹八区治疗临床辩证为肝气郁结型的广泛性焦虑症,较单独使用常规针刺疗效显著,患者病情有明显好转;使用孙氏腹针治疗肝气郁结型广泛性焦虑症,可显著改善精神性焦虑,较单独使用常规针刺更有优势。     

Acupuncture accelerates neural regeneration and synaptophysin production after neural stem cells transplantation in mice

BACKGROUNDSynaptophysin plays a key role in synaptic development and plasticity of neurons and is closely related to the cognitive process of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients. Exogenous neural stem cells (NSCs) improve the damaged nerve function. The effects of Sanjiao acupuncture on cognitive impairment may be related to the regulation of the NSC microenvironment.AIMTo explore the anti-dementia mechanism of acupuncture by regulating the NSC microenvironment.METHODSNSCs were isolated from pregnant senescence-accelerated mouse resistant 1 (SAMR1) mice, labeled with BrdU, and injected into the hippocampus of senescence-accelerated mouse prone 8 (SAMP8) mice. Eight-month-old senescence-accelerated mice (SAM) were randomly divided into six groups: SAMR1 (RC), SAMP8 (PC), sham transplantation (PS), NSC transplantation (PT), NSC transplantation with acupuncture (PTA), and NSC transplantation with non-acupoint acupuncture (PTN). Morris water maze test was used to study the learning and memory ability of mice after NSC transplantation. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and immunofluorescence were used to observe the his-topathological changes and NSC proliferation in mice. A co-culture model of hippocampal slices and NSCs was established in vitro, and the synaptophysin expression in the hippocampal microenvironment of mice was observed by flow cytometry after acupuncture treatment.RESULTSMorris water maze test showed significant cognitive impairment of learning and memory in 8-mo-old SAMP8, which improved in all the NSC transplantation groups. The behavioral change in the PTA group was stronger than those in the other two groups (P < 0.05). Histopathologically, the hippocampal structure was clear, the cell arrangement was dense and orderly, and the necrosis of cells in CA1 and CA3 areas was significantly reduced in the PTA group when compared with the PC group. The BrdU-positive proliferating cells were found in NSC hippocampal transplantation groups, and the number increased significantly in the PTA group than in the PT and PTN groups (P < 0.05). Flow cytometry showed that after co-culture of NSCs with hippocampal slices in vitro, the synaptophysin expression in the PC group decreased in comparison to the RC group, that in PT, PTA, and PTN groups increased as compared to the PC group, and that in the PTA group increased significantly as compared to the PTN group with acupoint-related specificity (P < 0.05).CONCLUSIONAcupuncture may promote nerve regeneration and synaptogenesis in SAMP8 mice by regulating the microenvironment of NSC transplantation to improve the nerve activity and promote the recovery of AD-damaged cells.     

A pluralist challenge to “integrative medicine”: Feyerabend and Popper on the cognitive value of alternative medicine

This paper is a critique of ‘integrative medicine’ as an ideal of medical progress on the grounds that it fails to realise the cognitive value of alternative medicine. After a brief account of the cognitive value of alternative medicine, I outline the form of ‘integrative medicine’ defended by the late Stephen Straus, former director of the US National Centre for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Straus’ account is then considered in the light of Zuzana Parusnikova’s recent criticism of ‘integrative medicine’ and her distinction between ‘cognitive’ and ‘opportunistic’ engagement with alternative medicine. Parusnikova warns that the medical establishment is guilty of ‘dogmatism’ and proposes that one can usefully invoke Karl Popper’s ‘critical rationalism’ as an antidote. Using the example of Straus, I argue that an appeal to Popper is insufficient, on the grounds that ‘integrative medicine’ can class as a form of cognitively-productive, critical engagement. I suggest that Parusnikova’s appeal to Popper should be augmented with Paul Feyerabend’s emphasis upon the role of ‘radical alternatives’ in maximising criticism. ‘Integrative medicine’ fails to maximise criticism because it ‘translates’ alternative medicine into the theories and terminology of allopathic medicine and so erodes its capacity to provide cognitively-valuable ‘radical alternatives’. These claims are then illustrated with a discussion of ‘traditional’ and ‘medical’ acupuncture. I conclude that ‘integrative medicine’ fails to exploit the cognitive value of alternative medicine and so should be rejected as an ideal of medical progress.