Bonta Ivan L
Pharmacology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Med Hypotheses. 2002 Mar;58(3):221-4. doi: 10.1054/mehy.2001.1425.
Traditional acupuncture has been used for treating a variety of health conditions. In contrast, Western physicians limited acupuncture to the alleviation of pain. Concomitant with a recent view that not all kinds of pain are within the reach of acupuncture-induced relief, it has been suggested that some conditions other than pain can be effectively treated by this method. Increased release of the neuropeptide beta-endorphin was proposed to explain the antinociceptive function of acupuncture. Even if correct beta-endorphin cannot account for the effect of acupuncture in other conditions. Endorphins might be interacting with cytokines, some of which (e.g. interleukin-10) downregulate the inflammatory component of disorders in which acupuncture may be useful. We present a speculative notion of the view that acupuncture may amplify the interaction between neuropeptides and cytokines. A non-invasive approach, such as immune-committed cells harvested from blood of acupuncture-treated patients, could be used to examine this hypothesis. Inclusion of a placebo group might support the credibility of acupuncture.
传统针灸已被用于治疗多种健康状况。相比之下，西方医生将针灸的作用局限于缓解疼痛。随着最近一种观点的出现，即并非所有类型的疼痛都能通过针灸缓解，有人提出这种方法可以有效治疗除疼痛之外的一些病症。有人提出神经肽β-内啡肽释放增加可解释针灸的抗伤害感受功能。即便β-内啡肽的说法正确，它也无法解释针灸在其他病症中的作用。内啡肽可能与细胞因子相互作用，其中一些细胞因子（如白细胞介素-10）可下调针灸可能有效的病症中的炎症成分。我们提出一个推测性观点，即针灸可能会增强神经肽与细胞因子之间的相互作用。一种非侵入性方法，如从接受针灸治疗患者的血液中采集免疫活性细胞，可用于检验这一假设。纳入安慰剂组可能会增强针灸的可信度。
