• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.35-46
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• 2008

Objectives : Chronic pain affects and is affected by physical and psychosocial factors. It also has a complicated and indefinite mechanism. This research is for clarifying relations with chronic pain, stress, and autonomic nerve system by comparing HRV and Stress Reaction Index(SRI) of chronic pain patients with those of acute pain patients. Methods : The subjects were 32 patients who visited Kangnam Kyunghee Hospital for nuchal pain or low back pain treatment from March 2008 to September 2008. Among them, 16 patients who suffered over 6 months are classified chronic pain group and 16 patients who suffered under 6 months as acute pain group. All subjects had their HRV(SA-2000E: Medicore Co..Ltd. Korea) and SRI measured at first visit. We studied the difference of HRV between two groups.(Statistics by Student t-test, p<0.05) Results : R-MSSD, TP, VLF, LF, HF and LF/HF ratio of the chronic pain group were significantly lower than those of the acute pain group. Compared with those of the acute pain group, total SRI of the chronic pain group were low but it's not significant except frustration. Conclusion : The results of HRV of the chronic pain group patients show that chronic pain is related to psychosocial factor and autonomic disturbance.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.67-85
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• 2006

Obiecnves : The purpose of this study was to examine the analgesic effect of moxi-tar on a rat model of carrageenan-induced arthritis and the relations between moxi-tar-induced analgesia and endogenous NO and iNOS, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and c-Fos protein expression in the spinal cord. Methods : Carrageenan-induced arthritis rat model was used to test the effect of moxi-tar as a chronic pain model. After the induction of arthritis, rats subsequently showed a reduced stepping force of the affected limb for at least the next 4 days. The reduced stepping force of the limb was presumably due to a painful knee, since oral injection of indomethacin produced temporary improvement of weight bearing. Moxi-tar dissolved in ethyl alcohol was injected several acupoints. After the treatment, behavioral tests measuring stepping force were periodically conducted during the next 12 hours. Results : Moxi-tar produced significant improvement of stepping force of the hindlimb affected by the arthritis lasting at least 9 hours. The magnitude of this improvement was equivalent to that obtained after an oral injection of 3 mg/kg of indomethacin and this improvement of stepping force was interpreted as an analgesic effect. Moxi-tar produced the improvement of stepping force of the affected hindlimb in a dose-dependent manner. Both NO production and iNOS, COX-2 protein expression increased by arthritis were suppressed by moxi-tar. moxi-tar on combination with electroacupuncture (EA) produced more powerful and longer lasting improvement of stepping force of the hindlimb affected by the arthritis than either moxi-tar or EA did. Conclusion : The present study suggest that moxi-tar produces a potent analgesic effect on the chronic knee arthritis pain model in the rat and that moxi-tar-induced analgesia modulate endogenous NO through the suppression of iNOS/COX-2 protein expression.