Quiroz-González Salvador, Torres-Castillo Sergio, López-Gómez Rosa Estela, Jiménez Estrada Ismael
Department of Acupuncture and Rehabilitation, State University of Ecatepec Valley, Ecatepec, State of México, Mexico.
Department of Acupuncture and Rehabilitation, State University of Ecatepec Valley, Ecatepec, State of México, Mexico.
J Acupunct Meridian Stud. 2017 Apr;10(2):81-89. doi: 10.1016/j.jams.2017.01.006. Epub 2017 Feb 21.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture points (APs) have been emphasized as key elements that generate the therapeutic effects of acupuncture. At the spinal cord or supraspinal level, sensory neurons located in the dorsal horn receive an extensive supply of sensory information from skin and muscle receptors through peripheral afferent nerves. The stimulated skin area that influences the activity of a spinal sensory neuron is known as the peripheral receptive field (RF) of that neuron. By considering that a particular AP location involves the activation of one or various RFs, it can be assumed that several sensory central neurons are the site of convergence of the peripheral input generated by acupuncture stimulation. However, stimulation on nonacupoint sites could also activate skin areas with RFs that have been sensitized, and they could be involved in the generation of nonspecific effects of acupuncture, as seen in clinical practice. From the latter, it is suggested that effective APs, and even nonacupoints, are associated with a particular arrangement of RFs, and their study will be useful for understanding the intrinsic mechanisms of acupuncture and for the development and identification of more efficient sites and modes of acupuncture stimulation to evoke optimal therapeutic actions.
在传统中医中，穴位被视为产生针刺治疗效果的关键要素。在脊髓或脊髓以上水平，位于背角的感觉神经元通过外周传入神经从皮肤和肌肉感受器接收大量感觉信息。影响脊髓感觉神经元活动的受刺激皮肤区域被称为该神经元的外周感受野（RF）。考虑到特定穴位位置涉及一个或多个感受野的激活，可以假设几个感觉中枢神经元是针刺刺激产生的外周输入的汇聚部位。然而，非穴位部位的刺激也可能激活已致敏的具有感受野的皮肤区域，并且它们可能参与针刺非特异性效应的产生，如临床实践中所见。由此表明，有效的穴位甚至非穴位都与感受野的特定排列有关，对它们的研究将有助于理解针刺的内在机制，以及开发和识别更有效的穴位和针刺刺激方式以引发最佳治疗效果。
