Yu Y, Kasahara T, Sato T, Guo S Y, Liu Y a, Asano K, Hisamitsu T
Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan.
Jpn J Physiol. 1997 Apr;47(2):173-8. doi: 10.2170/jjphysiol.47.173.
The effect of Tsusanli acupuncture point (S36 acupoint) stimulation on splenic natural killer (NK) cytotoxicity was examined in Fischer 344 (F344) rats. Electro-acupuncture stimulation (voltage intensity, 1 to 5 V; duration, 1 ms; frequency, 1 Hz) was applied to bilateral S36 acupoints once a day (1 h) for 3 d. NK cytotoxicity was measured by the standard 4-h 51Cr release assay. Successive acupuncture treatment for 3 d significantly enhanced splenic NK cytotoxicity (p < 0.001) on the first day after final treatment as compared to that of the control. However, similar stimulation to abdominal muscle did not influence splenic NK cytotoxicity. We also examined endogenous cytokine activities in aqueous spleen extracts prepared from acupunctured and control rats. The extracts from rats acupunctured at the S36 acupoint contained high levels of interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon (IFN)-gamma as compared to those of abdominal muscle acupunctured and non-acupunctured control rats (p < 0.01). Furthermore, a significant positive correlation (p < 0.01) was observed between the levels of each cytokine tested and splenic NK cytotoxicity. The same positive correlation was also observed between the levels of IL-2 and IFN-gamma (p < 0.01). These observations indicate that electro-acupuncture stimulation of the S36 acupoint enhances splenic NK cytotoxicity and that IL-2 and IFN-gamma may function, at least in part, in the regulation of NK cell activity in this system.
在Fischer 344（F344）大鼠中研究了足三里穴位（S36穴位）刺激对脾脏自然杀伤（NK）细胞毒性的影响。每天一次（1小时）对双侧S36穴位进行电针刺激（电压强度1至5V；持续时间1ms；频率1Hz），持续3天。通过标准的4小时51Cr释放试验测量NK细胞毒性。与对照组相比，连续针刺治疗3天在末次治疗后的第一天显著增强了脾脏NK细胞毒性（p<0.001）。然而，对腹部肌肉进行类似刺激并未影响脾脏NK细胞毒性。我们还检测了针刺大鼠和对照大鼠脾脏水提取物中的内源性细胞因子活性。与针刺腹部肌肉和未针刺的对照大鼠相比，针刺S36穴位的大鼠提取物中含有高水平的白细胞介素（IL）-2和干扰素（IFN）-γ（p<0.01）。此外，在所检测的每种细胞因子水平与脾脏NK细胞毒性之间观察到显著的正相关（p<0.01）。在IL-2和IFN-γ水平之间也观察到相同的正相关（p<0.01）。这些观察结果表明，电针刺激S36穴位可增强脾脏NK细胞毒性，并且IL-2和IFN-γ可能至少部分地在该系统中调节NK细胞活性。
