• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.35-39
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• 2002

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the Effect of Acupuncture Stimulation of Sohae(H3) and Sobu(H8) Acupoint on Skin Temperature of Sochung Acupint(H9, the end acupoint of Heart Meridian). Sohae and Sobu acupoint has a property of water and fire in the Five agents on Heart Meridian. Methods : Subjects were four healthy oriental medical students volunteers(male, mean age-28). One group(two subjects) received acupuncture on Sohae acupoint(H3) and the other group(two subjects) on Sobu acupoint(H8) while resting. Skin temperature was measured on Sochung acupoint(H9) before, during, and after acupunture stimulation. Each test took 15minutes. The initial 5minutes were definded as BAS(Before Acupuncture Stimulation) period, the following 5minutes as DAS(During Acupuncture Stimulation) period, the last 5minutes as AAS(After Acupuncture Stimulation) period. This test was performed twice in order to increase the statistical authenticity. Results : Our result indicates that acupuncrue stimulation of Sohae acupoint(H3) decreased and Sobu acupoint(H8) increased skin temperature on Sochung acupoint(H9) in the DAS period. The changes remained throughout the AAS period. Our conculusion are that stimulaton of the Water and Fire property-acupoint(H3, H8) on Heart changes the skin temperature on Sochung acupoint on the same Heart Meridian. However this study has no authenticity because it had no regard for many factors effecting on the result and the result of the study was the very reverse of our expectation.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.180-189
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• 2003

The experiments were designated to evaluate the anti-nociceptive effect of low power laser stimulation on acupoint or non-acupoint using arthrogenic solution induced poly arthritis animal model. Evaluation of potential antinociceptive effect of low power laser on arthritis has employed measurements of the foot bending test, the development of either thermal or mechanical hyperalgesia following the arthritis induction. The analysis of thermal hyperalgesia includes Hargreaves's method. Randall-Sellitto test was utilized for evaluating mechanical hyperalgesia. In addition, the antinociceptive effect of low power laser stimulation on arthritis induced spinal Fos expression was analyzed using a computerized image analysis system. The results were summerized as follows: 1. In laser stimulation on acupoint treated animal, laser stimulation dramatically inhibited the development of pain in foot bending test as compared to those of non acupoint treated animal group and non treated animal group. 2. The threshold of thermal stimulation was significantly increased by low power laser stimulation on acupoint as compared to that of non treated control group. 3. Laser stimulation on acupoint dramatically attenuated the development of mechanical hyperalgesia as compared to that of non treated group. 4. Low power laser stimulation on acupoint significantly suppressed arthritis induced Fos expression in the lumbar spinal cord at 3 week post arthritis induction. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that low power laser stimulation on acupoint has potent anti-nociceptive effect on arthritis. Additional supporting data for an antinociceptive effect of laser stimulation was obtained using Fos immunohistochemical analysis on spinal cord section. Those data indicated that laser stimulation induced antinociception was mediated by suppression of spinal neuron activity in pain sensation.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.545-558
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• 2000

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of low power GaAsAl laser on Fos expression in the spinal cord induced by noxious mechanical stimulation. Noxious mechanical stimulation was applied to the right hind paw following 30min of low power laser treatment using different intensity and treatment point and the resulting Fos expression in the spinal cord dorsal horn was compared to that obtained in rats exposed only to the noxious mechanical stimulation. The results were summarized as follows: 1. In intact control rats, only a few Fos like immunoreactive(Fos-IR) neurons were evident in the lumbar spinal cord dorsal horn. Similarly, following prolonged inhalation anesthesia, Fos-IR neurons were absent in the dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal cord. In animals treated with noxious mechanical stimulation, neurons with nuclei exhibiting Fos immunostaining were distributied mainly in the medial half of ipsilateral laminae I-V at lumbar segments L3-5. These findings directly indicated that prolonged anesthesia used in this study did not affect the Fos expression in the spinal cord dorsal horn of intact animals and noxious mechanical stimulation treated animals. 2. In acupoint treated animals, 10mW of laser stimulation, not 3mW intensity, significantly reduced the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons in the spinal dorsal horn induced by noxious mechanical stimulation(P<.01). However, the supressive effect of low power laser stimulatin was not observed in 3m Wand 10m W of laser stimulation into non-acupoint. These data indicate that 10mW of low power laser stimulation into acupoint is capable of inhibiting the expression of Fos in the dorsal horn induced by noxious mechanical stimulation. In conclusion, these findings raise the possibility that low power laser stimulation into acupoint may be a promising alternative medicine therapy for the mechanical stimulation induced pain in the clinical field.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.1005-1013
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• 2001

The present study was designed to investigate the effect of low power GaAlAs laser on spinal Fos expression related to the anti-nociceptive effect of laser stimulation. Low power GaAlAs laser was applied to either acupoint or non-acupoint for 2 hour under light inhalation anesthesia. Spinal Fos expression in the dorsal horn was compared to that obtained in inhalation anesthesia control group. Furthermore, we analyzed the effect of the local treatment of lidocaine on the spinal Fos expression evoked by low power GaAlAs laser stimulation. The results were summarized as follows: 1. In the normal animals, only a few Fos like immunoreactive(Fos-IR) neurons were evident in the lumbar spinal cord dorsal horn. Similarly, following prolonged inhalation anesthesia, Fos-IR neurons were absent in the dorsal horn of the lumbar spinal cord. In animals treated with laser stimulation, Fos immunoreactive neurons were increased mainly in the medial half of ipsilateral laminae I-III at lumbar segments L3-5. These findings directly indicated that prolonged anesthesia used in this study did not affect the Fos expression in the spinal cord dorsal horn of intact animals and low power laser stimulation dramatically produced Fos expression in the spinal cord laminae that are related to the anti-nociceptive effect of laser stimulation. 2. In acupoint stimulated animals, 10mW of laser stimulation, not 3mW and 6mW intensity, significantly increased the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons in the spinal dorsal horn(p<0.05). However, laser stimulation on acupoint more dramatically increased the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons in the spinal cord rather than laser stimulatin on non acupoint. These result suggested that laser stimulatin on acupoint was more effective treatment to activate the spinal neuron than non acupoint stimulation. 3. The local treatment of lidocaine totally suppressed the activity of spinal neurons that were induced by lower power 1aser stimulation. These data indicated that the anti-nociceptive effect of laser stimulation was absolutely dependent upon the peripheral nerve activity in the stimulated location. In conclusion, these data indicate that 10mW of low power laser stimulation into acupoint is capable of inducing the spinal Fos expression in the dorsal horn related to the anti-nociceptive effect of laser stimulation, Furthermore, the induction of spinal Fos expression was totally related to the peripheral nerve activity in the laser stimulated area.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.99-109
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• 2002

We designed the experiments to elucidate the anti-inflammatory effect of low power laser stimulation on acupoint or non-acupoint using arthrogenic solution induced poly arthritis animal model. In order to achieve the experimental purpose, change in body weight paw edema, pathological changes in inflammed pint and the serum interlukin-6 level were measured after arthritis induction in acupoint later stimulated group, non acupoint laser stimulated group and non treated control animal. The results were summerized as follows: 1. The consistent increase in body weight was observed in the normal animal during whole experimental period, while the induction of arthritis significantly suppressed increase in body weight from the 15 day after arthritis induction. Especially, non treated animal group showed more suppressive effect on increase in body weight as compared to that of low power laser stimulated groups (P<0.05). 2. Low power laser stimulation on acupoint (Zusanli) significantly inhibited edema in the left side paw from the 12th day after arthritis induction as compared to that of non treated animals. This suppressive effect on paw edema was maintained until the end of experiment. 3. Laser treatment on acupoint dramatically suppressed the radiological change (i.e. new bone proliferation and soft tissue swelling) caused by arthritis as compared to that of non treated group animals. 4. Low power laser treatment reduced the increase in serum interlukin-6 caused by arthritis induction to levels observed in the normal animals. In conclusion, the results of the present study demonstrated that low power laser stimulation on acupoint has potent anti-inflammatory effect on arthritis. Thus it is recommended that low power laser be used for long term treatment of arthritis induced inflammation. However, further study is necessary to clarify the possible side effect of laser treatment depending upon intensity and duration of stimulation.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.149-155
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• 2023

Objectives : Hapgok (LI4) is one of the most widely used acupoints in clinical practice. This study aims to investigate the trend of clinical studies including LI4 acupoint stimulation in Korea. Methods : Papers of clinical researches including LI4 acupoint stimulation in Korean journals were searched in Korean databases of Korean Traditional Knowledge Portal, Korean Studies Information Service System, Korea Citation Index, DBpia, Research Information Sharing Service, and ScienceON. The papers were then analyzed focusing on the number of publications by year, the types of the clinical research, interventions, research topics, institutes, and journals. Results : A total of 154 publications were included in this study. The first paper was published in 1981, and the number of papers has gradually increased since the 1990s. Although LI4 acupoint stimulation was included, most of the papers had additional acupoints and interventions. Diseases of the nervous system were the most common, followed by diseases of the digestive system and diseases of the circulatory system. Kyung Hee University is the institution that published the most papers, and the journal that published the most papers is The Journal of Korean Oriental Internal Medicine. Conclusions : Since the 1990s, the number of clinical studies on LI4 acupoint has increased. However, the results of the studies are insufficient to prove the efficacy of LI4 acupoint because most of the studies were case reports using additional acupoints and interventions. Therefore, more rigorous studies are needed to prove the efficacy of LI4 acupoint.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.244-253
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• 1997

This study was performed to evaluate the possibility of inducing analgesia by electroacupuncture stimulation at single acupoint or combined acupoints and to examine the analgesic effects following the combination of premedication and electroacupunrture analgesia(EA). Analgesia was induced by EA with the current of 1-4 volts and the frequency of 10-45 Hz to the acupoints Uown to be related to analgesia on the head/necIL axial part thoracic and pelvic limb. In Yi Feng acupoint of head/neck part pain responses were not disappeared after electroacupunrture stimulation to the head/necIL thoracic limbo thoraxl abdomen, loin, rear and pelvic limb. Pain responses were remained after EA of Tian Men-Tian Ping and Shen Yu arupoints of axial park whereas hypoalgesia was observed after EA of Tian Ping-Bai Hui acupoint in all parts of body. There was no analgesic effects after EA stimulation of the brachial plexus and Wai Kuan acupoint, whereas after EA stimulation of San Yang Lo, pain responses were disappeared in headfnecll, thoracic limb and pelvic limbo and in the other parts of body hypoalgesia was shown. In EA stimulation of Tsu San Li acupoint pain responses were disappeared in pelvic limb and in San Yin Chiao acupoint pain responses were disappeared in head/necIL thoracic and pelvic limb, and hypoalgesia was shown in abdomen. On the combination of San Yang Lo Pli Men) and San Yin Chiao (Pu Yan6 acupoints, pain response in heauneck was decreased in 5 minutes, whereas analgesia in thoracic and pelvic limb was induced after 20-30 minutes and in abdomen was noted after 50 minutes. The more frequrncy was increased, the more rapid analgesic e11%t was induced. The analgesic effects wert not good in laparotomy under EA at the combination of San Yang Lo (Xi Men) and San Yin Chiao (Pu Yang) arufoints. Enteroanastomosis could not be continued under acrpromazine, xylazine and diazepam with EA. However, under EA followed by tiletaminetzolazepam, the operation could be completed without additional anesthesia and the analgesic effects were good. There were no changes in clinical signs, hematological and serological values after combination of the premeditation of tiletamine+zolaEepam and EA. It is considered that EA alone is not suitable for the main surgery, but the combination method of EA and sedatives can be utilized in practice.

• Journal of Korean Physical Therapy Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.533-543
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• 2000

This study was designed to evaluate the analgesic effect of low power GaAsAl laser on the pain threshold of mechanical stimulation using different treatment points, acupuncture point (zusanli) and non-acupuncture points(back). Furthermore, we investigated the analgesic effect of low power GaAsAl laser using the different duration and intensity of laser in mechanical stimulation induced pain behavior. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The threshold of mechanical stimulation was significantly increased by GaAsAl laser stimulation into zusanli point after 15 and 30 min after laser stimulation(P<05). However, the laser stimulation into non-acupoint did not affect the pain threshold of mechanical stimulation. with dose dependent manner. 2. In order to investigate the analgesic effects of BV depending upon different intensities of laser stimulation, the experimental animals were divided into three groups: 3 mW treated group, 6 mW treated group and 10 mW treated group. The low power GaAsAl laser stimulation was applied into zusanli acupoint for 30 min with different intensity of laser stimulation. Six and ten mW of laser stimulation significantly increased the pain threshold of mechanical stimulation at 15 min after laser stimulation as compared to that of control group(P<.05). Moreover, the analgesic effect of 10 mW laser stimulation was maintained for 30 min after laser stimulation (P<.05). 3. Finally, we tested the analgesic effect of 10 mW laser stimulation using different duration such as 10 min, 30 min or 1 hr after application of mechanical stimulation. In 30 min treatment group, the pain threshold of mechanical stimulation was increased at 15min and 30min after laser stimulation(P<.05). However, laser stimulation for 60 min dramatically increased the pain threshold of mechanical stimulation at 0 min after laser stimulation and the analgesic effect of laser stimulation was observed until 1 hr after laser stimulation. In conclusion, these data apparently demonstrate that low power GaAsAl laser has analgesic effect on mechanical induced pain model in rats. In addition, the treated point, intensity and duration of laser stimulation should be concerned before clinical application for pain management purpose.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2018

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the analgesic effect of electroacupuncture(EA) and radio-frequency warm needling(RFWN) stimulation in acupoint combination on ankle sprained pain in rats. Methods : The lateral ligaments of the Sprague-Dawley rats ankle were injured surgically resulting in sprain, of which was divided into EA, RFWN treatment groups and control group without treatment. The level of pain was measured through foot weight bearing force ratio followed by calculating pain relief. To stimulate proximal or distal area in ankle sprain, combination of proximal acupoints(GB34-GB39) and distal acupoints(GB39-GB42) from sprain area were applied, respectively, to either EA or RFWN stimulation. In addition, naltrexone or phentolamine was injected intraperitoneally before the stimulation to observe the pathway of analgesic effects. Results : In the proximal combination of GB34-GB39, EA and RFWN significantly increased pain relief compared to the control group (p<0.05). However, in distal combination with GB39-GB42, both EA and RFWN stimulation did not relieve pain due to ankle sprains. In the combination of GB34-GB39, the analgesia of EA was inhibited by blockade of the ${\alpha}$-adrenoceptor receptor. The analgesia of RFWN was inhibited by blockade of the ${\alpha}$-adrenoceptor receptor as well as ${\mu}$-opioid receptor. Conclusions : We observed that the proximal combination was effective in relieving pain when the treatment by acupoint combination was applied to the ankle sprain pain. Also, it was confirmed that this analgesia was also related to the pathways of ${\mu}$-opioid receptors and/or ${\alpha}$-adrenoceptors.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.177-186
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• 2004

Introduction : Recent studies Suggested that there is a strong correlation between acupuncture stimulation and its related cortical activation. Anther study showed that either positive or negative BOLD effects could be observed depending on anatomical structure in acupuncture stimulation. In ttis study, we investigated a new acupoint $KI_6$ (照海), which was known as motor-related acupoint and obtained an evidence that the stimulation of $KI_6$ resulted in either negative or positive BOLD response to stimulation. Methods & Results : 1. Subjects and paradigms : Two separate stimulation paradigms were performed on five healthy (aged 22-23 yrs) in this study. First, the paradigm of acupuncture stimulation was that the acupuncture needle was inserted in acupoints $KI_6$, which is located in lateral side of the foot and then continuously twisted(補瀉를 除外한 捻轉法) for 70 seconds for 10 cycles of activation. During rest period (70 seconds), the needle was completed removed from acupoint. Total 60 cycles were performed and 10 images were obtained per cycle. Second, nonacupoint was randomly selected and the same paradigm was performed as acupoint stimulation. The stimulation protocol comprised 10 cycles of alternating. activation and rest (10 images per cycle). Total 60 cycles were performed and each cycle take about 1.5 sec for motor task. Subjects take an at least 15 minutes break before starting anther paradigm. 2. fMRI mapping : Multi-slice functional images were obtained on a 1.5T Magnetom Vision MRI scanner (Simens Medical, Erlangen, Germany) equipped with high performance whole-body gradients. The BOLD T2 * - weighted images were acquired with acho planar imaging sequence (TR = 1.2 sec, TE = 60 msec, and flip angle = $90_{\circ}$). The other sequence parameter are : FOV = 210 mm, matrix=$64{\times}128$ or $64{\times}64$, slice number=10 and slice thickness = 5 or 8 mm. the anatomic images were obtained with Spin-echo T1-weighted images. The resulting images were then anaiyzed with STIMULATE (CMRR, U. of Minnesota) to generate functional maps using a student T-test (p < 0.005) and cluster analysis. Both positive and negative response were evaluated. Conclusions : We have observed the activation of the motor cortex by stimulating motor-related acupoint ($KI_6$). Among five subjects, negative BOLD response was shown in four and positive response in one. All subjects showed positive response to conventional finger flexion-extension task. To understand the detailed mechanisms of correlation between acupuncture stimulation and BOLD fMRI changes and two typs of response, further study strongly required.