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Acupuncture, Electronic Stimulation Lowers Blood
Pressure by 50%
Study only addressed temporary relief during
hypertension
 March 28, 2005 In a study funded by the
governments National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, acupuncture
treatments using low levels of electrical stimulation lowered elevations
in blood pressure by as much as 50 percent, researchers at the Susan
Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine at UC Irvine have found.
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Dec. 22, 2004 Acupuncture does provide pain
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In tests on rats, the researchers found that "electroacupuncture"
treatments provided temporary relief from the conditions that raise
blood pressure during hypertensive states. Such treatments, they
believe, potentially can become part of a therapeutic regimen for
long-term care of hypertension and other cardiovascular ailments in
people. Medicare does not pay for acupuncture treatment.
This study suggests that acupuncture can be an
excellent complement to other medical treatments, especially for those
treating the cardiac system, said Dr. John C. Longhurst, director of
the Samueli Center and study leader. The Western world is waiting for a
clear scientific basis for using acupuncture, and we hope that this
research ultimately will lead to the integration of ancient healing
practices into modern medical treatment.
Acupuncture is a 3,000-year-old form of Chinese
medicine that involves inserting needles at specific points on the body
to help cure disease or relieve pain. In previous studies, Longhurst and
his UCI colleagues have identified at the cellular and molecular level
how acupuncture excites brain cells to release neurotransmitters that
either inhibit or heighten cardiovascular activity.
They have found that when an acupuncture needle is
inserted at specific sites on the wrist, inside of the forearm or leg,
this triggers the release of opioid chemicals in the brain that reduce
excitatory responses in the cardiovascular system. This decreases the
hearts activity and its need for oxygen, which in turn can lower blood
pressure, and promotes healing for a number of cardiac ailments, such as
myocardial ischemia (insufficient blood flow to the heart) and
hypertension.
In this study, the Longhurst team applied
acupuncture to specific points on the forelimb of test rats with
artificially elevated blood pressure rates; these same sites on humans
are on the inside of the forearm slightly above the wrist. The
researchers found that acupuncture alone had no effect on blood
pressure.
Next, they added electrical stimulation to the
acupuncture treatment by running an electrical current through the
needles. High frequencies of stimulation also had no effect, but low
frequencies lowered increased blood pressure by as much as 40 to 50
percent. Overall, the researchers found that a 30-minute treatment
reduced blood pressure rates in these test rats by 25 mmHg with the
effect lasting almost two hours.
This type of electroacupuncture is only effective
on elevated blood pressure levels, such as those present in
hypertension, and the treatment has no impact on standing blood pressure
rates, said Longhurst, a cardiologist who is also the Lawrence K. Dodge
Professor in Integrative Biology. Our goal is to help establish a
standard of acupuncture treatment that can benefit everyone who has
hypertension and other cardiac ailments.
Longhurst and his colleagues currently are testing
this electroacupuncture treatment method in an ongoing human study. This
current study appears in the March issue of the Journal of Applied
Physiology.
Drs. Wei Zhou, Liang-Wu Fu, Stephanie C.
Tjen-A-Looi and Peng Li of the UCI Department of Medicine participated
in the study, which was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood
Institute, and the Larry K. Dodge Endowed Chair.
The Susan Samueli Center for Integrative
Medicine in the UCI School of Medicine is focused on scientific research
and education in the broad field of complementary and alternative
medicine. The center, which was established in early 2000 through a gift
from Henry and Susan Samueli, is dedicated to public and professional
education and scientific research on the use of complementary and
integrative approaches in wellness and prevention as well as health
care. For more information, see:
www.ucihs.uci.edu/com/samueli.
About the University of California, Irvine: The
University of California, Irvine is a top-ranked public university
dedicated to research, scholarship and community service. Founded in
1965, UCI is among the fastest-growing University of California
campuses, with approximately 25,000 undergraduate and graduate students
and about 1,300 faculty members. The third-largest employer in Orange
County, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $3 billion.
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