Department of Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Kliniken Essen Mitte, Germany.
Auton Neurosci. 2012 Sep 25;170(1-2):48-55. doi: 10.1016/j.autneu.2012.07.002. Epub 2012 Jul 28.
Acupuncture has been shown to exhibit distinct effects on the autonomic nervous system. We tested whether the autonomic and psychological response to acupuncture depends on the stimulation dose and the personality of the treated subjects. 52 healthy subjects were randomized to receive either low dose (one needle at point Hegu bilaterally) or high dose (additional 4 needles at non-acupoints bilaterally) acupuncture stimulation after stratification according to their personality to "reduce" or "augment" incoming stimuli. Outcomes were changes of electrodermal activity (EDA), high frequency component of heart rate variability, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, respiration rate and subjective parameters for psychological well being and perceived intensity of needling. Electrodermal activity increased during needle insertion and decreased under baseline when subjects were resting with the needles in the body for 20 min. The initial EDA increase was significantly (GEE ANCOVA p<0.001) more pronounced during high dose stimulation and independent of personality. All other physiological parameters did not show any significant group effect. Strong stimulated augmenters perceived acupuncture most painful and increased with their psychological activation after the acupuncture session in contrast to the other groups, which showed a decrease of activation in the pre-post comparison (overall group effect p=0.032). The data indicate that during needle insertion high dose acupuncture stimulation leads to a higher increase of sympathetic nerve activity than low dose stimulation independent of personality. After needle insertion subjects who tend to augment incoming stimuli might show a lack of psychological relaxation when receiving high dose stimulation.
针刺已被证明对自主神经系统具有明显的影响。我们测试了针刺的自主神经和心理反应是否取决于刺激剂量和接受治疗者的人格。52 名健康受试者根据其人格特征分为“减少”或“增强”传入刺激的两组，分别接受低剂量（双侧合谷穴各一针）或高剂量（双侧非穴位各加 4 针）针刺刺激。结果是皮肤电活动（EDA）、心率变异性高频成分、心率、平均动脉血压、呼吸频率以及心理幸福感和针刺感知强度的主观参数的变化。当受试者在体内休息 20 分钟时，在针刺插入过程中 EDA 增加，在基线以下时减少。高剂量刺激时 EDA 初始增加明显更为显著（GEE 协方差分析 p<0.001），与人格无关。所有其他生理参数均未显示出任何显著的组间效应。强烈刺激的增强者认为针刺最疼痛，并且在针刺后其心理活动增加，与其他组相比，其他组在针刺前后比较中显示出活动减少（总体组间效应 p=0.032）。数据表明，在针刺插入过程中，高剂量刺激比低剂量刺激更能引起交感神经活动的增加，而与人格无关。在针刺插入后，当接受高剂量刺激时，倾向于增强传入刺激的受试者可能会表现出缺乏心理放松。
