• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.47-67
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• 2009

Objectives : To research the trend of the study related to pharmacopuncture about musculoskeletal and nervous diseases in China and to make a comparison with clinical application on pharmacopuncture about musculoskeletal and nervous diseases in China and Korea. Methods : I reviewed and analyzed four Chinese Journals relating pharmacopucture from 2004 to 2008 and two Korean Journals relating pharmacopuncture from 1999 to 2008. Results : The following results were obtained in this study. 1. The pharmacopuncture was often used for diseases of spines and joints. 2. In the medicine of pharmacopuncture, Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix, Angelicae Gigantis Radix were mainly used in China, and Bee-venom in Korea. 3. As a method of needling, local acupoint and Ashi-point were mainly ueed in both China and Korea. 4. In combined treatments, acupuncture, electronic acupuncture, Chuna, heating acupuncture were mainly used in China, and acupuncture, herb medicine, physiotherapy in Korea. 5. In the case of control group study, compared with other treatments pharmacopuncture was not verified the superiority of effectiveness in China, but in Korea, the effectiveness of a pharmacopuncture could be compared with that of others and the effectivenss of different pharmacopuncture could be compared. Conclusions : As seen above, in Korea, clinician should carry out clinical application about musculoskeletal and nervous diseases with various herbal injections besides Bee-venom. And I think that it will be starting point to use Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix and Angelicae Gigantis Radix that were often used in China.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.715-723
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• 1999

Bee venom (BV) has been traditionally applied to relieve pain and to cure inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and neuritis. While several investigators have evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of BV treatment, the anti-nociceptive effect of BV treatment on inflammatory pain is not reported. Therefore, we decided to evaluate the analgesic effect of BV treatment using Freund's adjuvant induced chronic arthritis model. Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis has been used as an experimental animal model for RA in humans to assess the efficacy of the anti-inflammatory/analgesic drugs. In this study, subcutaneous BV treatment (1mg/kg/day) produced significantly reductions of symptoms related to arthritic pain (i.e. mechanical hyperalgesia and thermal hyperalgesia). The anti-nociceptive effect of BV was observed from at least 12 days after BV treatment. Furthermore, BV treatment significantly suppressed adjuvant induced Fos expression in lumbar spinal cord. We also found that local injection of BV into near the inflammatory site (especially Zusanli-acupoint) showed more potent analgesic effect on arthritic pain rather than distant injection of BV from inflammatory site (arbitrary side of back). The present study demonstrates that BV treatment has anti-nociceptive effect on arthritis induced inflammatory pain. The analgesic effect of BV on RA is probably mediated by the effect of BV itself or possible other mechanism such as counter-irritation. Furthermore, it is possible that BV acupuncture is one of the promising candidates for long-term therapy of RA.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.139-155
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• 2011

Objectives : To research trends of studies on treatments of knee osteoarthritis in Korean medicine. Methods : Domestic theses, published from 2000 to 2010, mentioning the treatments of knee osteoarthritis in Korean medicine were reviewed and analyzed. This study researched 79 theses and classified again according to the fields of the treatment. Results : The results were obtained as below ; 1. Studies on pharmacoacupuncture account for 41% of the total (32cases/79cases). The target of treatments had changed from pain alleviation and anti-inflammation to cartilage-protection since 2006. 2. Herbal Drug, Bee Venom, Cervi Cornu Parvum pharmacoacupuncture, Taping Therapy and Tai-Chi Exercise program were more effective than others. Moreover research on exercise program such as Tai-Chi has been increasing. 3. Some Herbal Drug (Glycyrrhizae Radix, Angelicae Gigantis Radix, Achyrantis Radix, Paeoniae Radix, Eucommiae Cortex and so on) were mainly used to investigate the effect on cartilage protection, pain relief and anti-inflammation in laboratory test. 4. Acupuncture including individualized, local acupoints and constitution acupuncture were effective than others in pain alleviation and symptom relief. 5. Pharmacoacupuncture Bee Venom were effective in recovery of joint function and pain relief while Buthus martensii Karsch, Homnis Placenta and Cervi Cornu Parvum were effective in cartilage protection and recovery. 6. Moxibustion was efficient to reduce joint pain and partly increase ROM (range of motion) of knee joint, but was not efficient to recover the function of knee joint. Conclusions : These results indicate that research trends on knee osteoarthritis were changed from symptomatic treatment (pain alleviation and anti-inflammation) to conservative treatment (cartilage protection and recovery).

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.40-49
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• 2014

Objectives: The gastric ulcer is a common disorder of the stomach and duodenum. The basic physiopathology of a gastric ulcer results from an imbalance between some endogenous aggressive and cytoprotective factors. This study examined whether Ganoderma lucidum pharmacopuncture (GLP) would provide protection against acute gastric ulcers in rats. Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were divided randomly into 4 groups of 8 rats each: normal, control, normal saline (NP) and GLP groups. The experimental acute gastric ulcer was induced by using an EtOH/HCl solution and the normal group received the same amount of normal saline instead of ethanol. The NP and the GLP groups were treated once with injections of saline and GLP, respectively. Two local acupoints were used: CV12 (中脘) which is the alarm point of the Stomach Meridian, and ST36 (足三里), which is the sea point of the Stomach Meridian. The stomachs from the rats in each group were collected and analyzed for gross appearance and histology. Also, immunohistochemistry staining for BAX, Bcl-2 and TGF-${\beta}1$ was performed. Results: Histological observations of the gastric lesions in the control group showed comparatively extensive damage of the gastric mucosa and necrotic lesions had penetrated deeply into the mucosa. The lesions were long, hemorrhagic, and confined to the glandular portions. The lesions were measured microscopically by using the clear depth of penetration into the gastric mucosal surface. The length and the width of the ulcer were measured and the inhibition percentage was calculated. Wound healing of the acute gastric ulcer was promoted by using GLP, and significant alterations of indices in gastric mucosa were observed. Such protection was shown by gross appearance, histology and immunohistochemistry staining for BAX, Bcl-2 and TGF-${\beta}1$. Conclusion: These results suggest that GLP administered at CV12 and ST36 can provide significant protection to the gastric mucosa against an ethanol-induced acute gastric ulcer.