Phantom Acupuncture: Dissociating Somatosensory and Cognitive/Affective Components of Acupuncture Stimulation with a Novel Form of Placebo Acupuncture

In a clinical setting, acupuncture treatment consists of multiple components including somatosensory stimulation, treatment context, and attention to needle-based procedures. In order to dissociate somatosensory versus contextual and attentional aspects of acupuncture, we devised a novel form of placebo acupuncture, a visual manipulation dubbed phantom acupuncture, which reproduces the acupuncture needling ritual without somatosensory tactile stimulation. Subjects (N = 20) received both real (REAL) and phantom (PHNT) acupuncture. Subjects were retrospectively classified into two groups based on PHNT credibility (PHNTc, who found phantom acupuncture credible; and PHNTnc, who did not). Autonomic and psychophysical responses were monitored. We found that PHNT can be delivered in a credible manner. Acupuncture needling, a complex, ritualistic somatosensory intervention, induces sympathetic activation (phasic skin conductance [SC] response), which may be specific to the somatosensory component of acupuncture. In contrast, contextual effects, such as needling credibility, are instead associated with a shift toward relative cardiovagal activation (decreased heart rate) during needling and sympathetic inhibition (decreased SC) and parasympathetic activation (decreased pupil size) following acupuncture needling. Visual stimulation characterizing the needling ritual is an important factor for phasic autonomic responses to acupuncture and may undelie the needling orienting response. Our study suggests that phantom acupuncture can be a viable sham control for acupuncture as it completely excludes the somatosensory component of real needling while maintaining the credibility of the acupuncture treatment context in many subjects.     

Production of conjugated linoleic acid by isolated Bifidobacterium strains

Two isolates from Korean faecal samples converted linoleic acid (LA) into conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and were identified as Bifidobacterium breve and Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum by analysis of 16S rRNA sequences. In both cases, the major CLA was the cis-9, trans-11 isomer and CLA production paralleled the increase in cell biomass with both bacteria and was maximal at 30 h. The quantities of supernatant CLA produced by B. breve and B. pseudocatenulatum were 160 and 135 mg l^–1, from 500 mg LA l^–1, respectively. In the presence of 0.05% LA, the growth of B. breve was weakly inhibited but that of B. pseudocatenulatum was not affected over 6 days fermentation. During fermentation, the majority of CLA isomers were in the culture supernatant, but with washed cells obtained at the early stationary phase, 36 h, about 40% was detected in the cellular lipid. The optimal culture age with equal concentrations of washed cells for CLA production by the two bifidobacteria was determined to be 36 h. At this culture age, total CLA conversion of supernatant and cell pellets was 78% in B. breve and 69% in B. pseudocatenulatum from 0.01% LA.