Variations in energy metabolism along the pericardium meridian and its relationship with visceral function adjustments during electroacupuncture

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Shu-Xia Zheng¹  Xiao-Hua Pan¹  Ya-Qin Dong¹  Jin-Sen Xu¹  Xiaoxiang Zhu¹  Chun-Ying Xiu¹ 

[1] Fujian Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Class III Laboratory of Acupuncture Physiology, Key Unit of the Propagated Sensation along Meridian of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 350003, Fuzhou, Fujian, China;

关键词: Pericardium meridian;    Microcirculatory blood perfusion;    Transcutaneous oxygen partial pressure;    Visceral function;    Meridian;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-323

 received in 2013-04-18, accepted in 2014-08-27,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundElectroacupuncture (EA) is a traditional Chinese medicine treatment guided by meridian theory. As it gradually gains more worldwide acceptance, a clarification of its mechanisms is extremely urgent. We observed variations in transcutaneous oxygen pressure/carbon dioxide pressure (tcpO2/tcpCO2) and microcirculation blood perfusion units (BPU) along the pericardium meridian, and cardiac function during EA at Neiguan (PC6) to explore variations in energy metabolism and its relationship with visceral function adjustments during EA.MethodsTwenty-two healthy volunteers participated in this study. Three channel laser Doppler flowmetry and tcpO2/tcpCO2 detection systems were used to detect tcpO2/tcpCO2 and microcirculation BPU along the pericardium meridian. A hemodynamic monitor was used to detect cardiac function.ResultsIn the normal state, the microcirculatory BPU along the pericardium meridian were significantly higher than that of their bilateral corresponding control points (p < 0.05). During EA at PC6, the values of the microcirculatory BPU along the pericardium meridian did not vary, and few increased. In the normal state, the values of tcpO2 along the pericardium meridian were significantly higher than those of their bilateral corresponding control points (p < 0.05). In addition, the values of tcpCO2 along the pericardium meridian were lower than those of their bilateral corresponding control points. In comparison with the normal state, EA could decrease tcpO2 along the meridian significantly (p < 0.05) and increase tcpCO2. During EA at PC6 in healthy volunteers treated by artificial acute mild hypoxia, cardiac output and cardiac index (p < 0.05) decreased and systemic vascular resistance increased significantly (p < 0.05).ConclusionsIn the normal state, the values of microcirculatory BPU and tcpO2 along the pericardium meridian were both higher than those of their bilateral corresponding control points. Energy metabolism was vigorous along the meridian. During EA, the decrease in oxygen partial pressure along the pericardium meridian might be a result of strengthened energy metabolism of associated tissue and increased oxygen consumption. The variations in energy metabolism along the pericardium meridian during the course of EA had a close relationship with visceral function adjustments.Trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial RegistryChiCTRTRC13003193.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Zheng et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.