Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Acupuncture at ST36 Point: A Literature Review in Animal Studies

So far, a number of acupuncture studies have shown anti-inflammatory effects of acupuncture treatment, mostly known at specific point ST36. However, there is no literature that oversaw the inflammation-regulatory effects of acupuncture in each tissue. Therefore, we investigated how acupuncture at specific acupoint ST36 regulates inflammation and its underlying mechanisms. We searched literatures on PubMed until July 2021 using the keywords “animal, acupuncture, ST36, inflammation, immune,” and 292 literatures were searched. We ultimately selected 69 studies to determine the anti-inflammatory actions of acupuncture at ST36 and classified the changes of inflammatory mediators according to target regions. Forty-three studies were included in body fluids, 27 studies in the digestive system, 17 studies in the nervous system, and 30 studies in other tissues or organs. In this review, we found that acupuncture at ST36 has clinical benefits in relieving inflammation through several mechanisms such as vagus nerve activation, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/NF-κB signaling, macrophage polarization, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway, and cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. We expect that these data will inform further studies related to ST36 acupuncture on inflammation.

Different Surface Electromyography of Propagated Sensation along Meridians Produced by Acupuncturing Quchi Acupoint (LI11) or Control Points

This study investigated the propagated sensation along meridians (PSM) produced respectively by acupuncture at a specific acupoint of right-side Quchi (LI11), a nonacupoint on meridian (control meridian point), and neither meridian nor acupoint (control point). All the stimulated points were on the right brachioradialis along the large intestine meridian of hand Yangming. Surface electromyography (sEMG) was used to reflect the activity of the brachioradialis along the large intestine meridian of hand Yangming. The PSM rate of LI11 (59.21%) and the control meridian point (53.95%) were significantly higher than the control point (38.16%) (P<0.05). After acupuncture, the brachioradialis sEMG amplitude was5.08±2.93 uV at LI11,3.08±1.18 uV at the control point, and2.77±1.36 uV at the control meridian point. The amplitude of LI11 was significantly higher than both the control meridian point and the control point (P<0.05). When the sEMG activity of brachioradialis returned to the stable base line, brachioradialis sEMG duration at LI11 (265±87.87 s) was significantly longer than that at the control meridian point (91.69±42.98 s) and the control point (83.31±32.76 s) (P<0.05). In conclusion, acupuncture activated PSM at all points but showed an acupoint specificity at LI11 and a meridian specificity at the control meridian point.