Dose-effect relationship between electroacupuncture and modulation of endogenous opioid peptide systems

Endogenous opioid peptides are the neurochemical basis of the anesthetic and analgesic effects of acupuncture. By using electroacupuncture, the amount of needle stimulation can be precisely controlled.

In a new study published in Acupuncture World Journala team of Chinese researchers showed that its endogenous opioid peptide system exhibits frequency response specificity.

“The low frequency of electroacupuncture promotes the release of enkephalins, β-endorphins, and endomorphins, the high frequencies selectively activate the dynorphin system, and the medium frequencies promote the release of enkephalins, β-endorphins, and dynorphins. Xue-song Tian, ​​senior and corresponding author of the study, explains: Tian is a professor at the Science and Technology Experiment Center of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

“Electroacupuncture’s compressional waves induce the release of enkephalins, beta-endorphins, endomorphins, and dynorphins, which may have a synergistic effect,” Tian further explains. “However, the waveform of electroacupuncture therapy should be chosen flexibly in clinical practice. In some cases, continuous wave acupuncture may provide better therapeutic effects.”

Endogenous opioid peptide systems are known to be involved in mediating the appropriate intensity of electroacupuncture, but the acupuncture effect produced by very strong electroacupuncture stimulation points to a type of stress response of non-opioid mechanisms. Masu.

“The combination of electroacupuncture parameters should be optimized according to different diseases, which is valuable in guiding clinical practice and the development of electroacupuncture,” says Tian. “Acupuncture differs from drug therapy in terms of its mechanism of action, and involves more complex and subtle regulatory effects.”

The authors point out that further quantitative studies of different stimulation parameters are needed to further elucidate the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture.