Tai Shusheng, Wang Jiulin, Sun Feng, Xutian Stevenson, Wang Tianshan, King Malcolm
Pulmonary Research Group, 173 Heritage Medical Research Center, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2S2, Canada.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2006 Feb 23;6:4. doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-6-4.
Acupuncture therapy for obstructive respiratory diseases has been effectively used in clinical practice and the acupuncture points or acupoints of Zhongfu and Tiantu are commonly-used acupoints to treat patients with the diseases. Since the impaired mucociliary clearance is among the most important features of airway inflammation in most obstructive respiratory diseases, the effect of needle puncture and electro-acupuncture at the specific acupoints on tracheal mucociliary clearance was investigated in anesthetized quails.
Mucociliary transport velocity on tracheal mucosa was measured through observing the optimal pathway, and fucose and protein contents in tracheal lavages were determined with biochemical methods. In the therapeutic group, needle puncture or electro-acupuncture stimulation to the acupoints was applied without or with constant current output in 2 mA and at frequency of 100 Hz for 60 minutes. In the sham group, electro-acupuncture stimulation to Liangmen was applied.
Our present experiments demonstrated that the electro-acupuncture stimulation to Zhongfu and Tiantu significantly increased tracheal mucociliary transport velocity and decreased the content of protein in the tracheal lavage, compared with the control group. Moreover, either needle puncture or electro-acupuncture stimulation to Zhongfu and Tiantu significantly reverted the human neutrophil elastase-induced decrease in tracheal mucociliary transport velocity and human neutrophil elastase -induced increase in the contents of fucose and protein in the tracheal lavage, compared with the control group.
These results suggest that either needle puncture or electro-acupuncture stimulation to the effective acupoints significantly improves both airway mucociliary clearance and the airway surface liquid and that the improvements maybe ascribed to both the special function of the points and the substantial stimulation of electricity.
针刺疗法在阻塞性呼吸道疾病的临床实践中已得到有效应用，其中中府和天突是治疗此类疾病常用的穴位。由于黏液纤毛清除功能受损是大多数阻塞性呼吸道疾病气道炎症的重要特征之一，本研究在麻醉鹌鹑中探讨了针刺及电针刺激特定穴位对气管黏液纤毛清除功能的影响。
通过观察最佳路径测量气管黏膜的黏液纤毛传输速度，采用生化方法测定气管灌洗液中的岩藻糖和蛋白质含量。治疗组对穴位进行针刺或电针刺激，电针刺激无电流输出或采用2 mA恒流输出、频率为100 Hz，持续60分钟。假手术组对梁门进行电针刺激。
本实验表明，与对照组相比，电针刺激中府和天突可显著提高气管黏液纤毛传输速度，并降低气管灌洗液中的蛋白质含量。此外，与对照组相比，针刺或电针刺激中府和天突可显著逆转人中性粒细胞弹性蛋白酶诱导的气管黏液纤毛传输速度降低以及人中性粒细胞弹性蛋白酶诱导的气管灌洗液中岩藻糖和蛋白质含量增加。
这些结果表明，针刺或电针刺激有效穴位可显著改善气道黏液纤毛清除功能及气道表面液体，这种改善可能归因于穴位的特殊功能和电刺激的实质作用。
