抄録
Background and purpose: Acupuncture has a longstanding use in traditional Chinese medicine including for rehabilitating of stroke patients. Its possible beneficial effects in acute stroke have as yet not been established. We therefore studied the effect of manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture in rat stroke model of a temporary and local ischemia. Methods: Infarction size was measured one week after the ischemia in four groups of rats; a control group receiving no treatment, a sham group, an electroacupuncture group and a manual acupuncture group. Results: The infarct area was similar in the control and sham groups whereas the area was 58% smaller in the electroacupuncture group and 57% smaller in the manual acupuncture group compared to the control group. Furthermore, electroacupuncture almost completely inhibited the cortical localisation of the infarction seen in the control and sham groups. Conclusion: The decreased infarction size in response to acutely administered acupuncture may be due to increased cerebral blood flow or to changes in neuroprotective growth factors induced by acupuncture treatment. It is unfortunate that acupuncture usually is administered days and weeks after the debut of the stroke symptoms and not at their beginning of the symptoms. [Jpn J Physiol 55 Suppl:S185 (2005)]
