Department of Occupational Medicine, Buddhist Tzu-Chi General Hospital, and Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, Tzu-Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan.
Acupunct Med. 2011 Dec;29(4):284-8. doi: 10.1136/aim.2010.003525. Epub 2011 Aug 9.
Intravenous injection of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulates macrophages to release proinflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide (NO). This results in hypotension, vascular hyporeactivity and multiple organ failure (eg, liver injury) in rats. In rats with endotoxin shock, electro-acupuncture (EA) of 'Neiguan' (PC6) retrieved blood pressure and reduced plasma concentrations of NO. The authors evaluated whether EA at PC6 could alleviate the development of liver injury and dysfunction in endotoxic rats.
A total of 28 male adult Wistar rats were included in this study. Rats received intravenous LPS (10 mg/kg for 4 h) or saline for 4 h followed by EA at PC6 acupuncture point.
Elevated biochemical parameters of liver injury and marked infiltration of neutrophils into liver tissues caused by LPS were significantly attenuated by EA. However, hypotension, tachycardia and raised production of plasma NO were not suppressed by EA at PC6.
These results indicate that EA at PC6 should be further investigated as a possible adjuvant therapy for endotoxin-induced liver dysfunction. Its mechanism of action needs further investigation.
静脉注射脂多糖（LPS）会刺激巨噬细胞释放促炎细胞因子和一氧化氮（NO）。这会导致大鼠出现低血压、血管低反应性和多器官衰竭（如肝损伤）。在内毒素休克大鼠中，“内关”（PC6）的电针（EA）可恢复血压并降低血浆 NO 浓度。作者评估了 PC6 处的 EA 是否可以减轻内毒素大鼠肝损伤和功能障碍的发展。
本研究共纳入 28 只雄性成年 Wistar 大鼠。大鼠接受静脉内 LPS（10mg/kg，持续 4 小时）或生理盐水 4 小时，随后接受 PC6 穴位 EA。
EA 显著减轻了 LPS 引起的肝损伤生化参数升高和中性粒细胞大量浸润肝组织的现象。然而，PC6 处的 EA 并未抑制低血压、心动过速和血浆 NO 产生增加。
这些结果表明，PC6 处的 EA 可作为治疗内毒素诱导的肝功能障碍的一种可能的辅助治疗方法进一步研究。其作用机制需要进一步研究。
