Medical & Nursing School, Chengdu University, 610106 Chengdu, China; Acupuncture and Tuina School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 610075 Chengdu, China.
Acupuncture and Tuina School, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 610075 Chengdu, China.
Brain Res Bull. 2019 Sep;151:144-152. doi: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2018.10.015. Epub 2018 Nov 17.
Purinergic signaling has recently been suggested to constitute the cellular mechanism underlying acupuncture-induced analgesia (AA). By extending the original hypothesis on endogenous opioids being released during AA, Geoffrey Burnstock and Maiken Nedergaard supplied evidence for the involvement of purinoceptors (P2 and P1/A1 receptors) in the beneficial effects of AA. In view of certain pain states (e.g. neuropathic pain) which respond only poorly to therapy with standard analgesics, as well as with respect to the numerous unwanted effects of opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, it is of great significance to search for alternative therapeutic options. Because clinical studies on AA yielded sometimes heterogeneous results, it is of eminent importance to relay on experiments carried out on laboratory animals, by evaluating the data with stringent statistical methods including comparison with a sufficient number of control groups. In this review, we summarize the state of the art situation with respect to the participation of P2 receptors in AA and try to forecast how the field is likely to move forward in the future.
嘌呤能信号转导最近被认为是构成针刺镇痛（AA）的细胞机制。通过扩展内源性阿片肽在 AA 期间释放的原始假设，Geoffrey Burnstock 和 Maiken Nedergaard 提供了嘌呤能受体（P2 和 P1/A1 受体）参与 AA 有益作用的证据。鉴于某些疼痛状态（例如神经性疼痛）对标准镇痛药以及阿片类药物和非甾体抗炎药的许多不良反应的反应很差，因此寻找替代治疗方法非常重要。由于 AA 的临床研究结果有时存在异质性，因此通过使用包括与足够数量的对照组进行比较在内的严格统计方法评估数据，依赖于实验室动物进行的实验非常重要。在这篇综述中，我们总结了 P2 受体在 AA 中的参与情况，并尝试预测该领域未来可能的发展方向。
