Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Volume 35, Issue 3, 15 June 2015, Pages 343–348

REVIEW

Common parameters of acupuncture for the treatment of hypertension used in animal models

• Lu Shengfeng^a,
• Cao Xin^b,
• Hiroshi Ohara^b,
• Yuji Nakamura^b,
• Hiroko Izumi-Nakaseko^b,
• Kentaro Ando^b,
• Liu Wanxin^a,
• Atsushi Sugiyama^{b, ,} ,
• Zhu Bingmei^{a, ,}

doi:10.1016/S0254-6272(15)30108-4

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Abstract

Hypertension is associated with at least 7.6 million annual deaths worldwide. While pharmacotherapy may provide good control for blood pressure, it sometimes induces adverse effects. Meanwhile, acupuncture has been used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, and stroke, but its mechanisms of actions remain poorly understood. The efficacy of acupuncture depends on multiple constituent elements including acupoints, manipulation skills, and implementation programs, which are termed as acupuncture prescription. This review summarized the previous information of experimental use of acupuncture on animals including species, hypertension models, acupoints selection, acupoint location, stimulation protocols, and evaluation of effectiveness to provide useful guidance for researchers when performing acupuncture in animal experiments.

Key words

• Acupuncture;
• Animals;
• Cardiovascular diseases;
• Hypertension;
• Drug therapy;
• Review

Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China: the Epigenetic Regulatory Mechanism of the Specificity of Acupoints(973 Program, No. 2012CB518501); the National Natural Science Foundation of China: the Regulatory Mechanism of AS-Neuron Crosstalk With Energy for Promoting Synaptic Plasticity in Hippocampus Treated by Acupuncture(No. 81202743); Deacetylation Modification in Personalized Medicine for Acupuncture-Based Weight-Loss(No. 81303019); Mechanistic Study of STAT5-miR-193b Pathway in Obesity and Weight Loss by Acupuncture(No. 81273838)

Correspondence to: Prof. Zhu Bingmei, Key Laboratory of Acupuncture and Medicine Research of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210023, China

Prof. Sugiyama Atsushi, Department of Pharmacology, Toho University, Tokyo 143-8540, Japan. Telephone: +86-25-85811235; +86-15050583071

Copyright © 2015 The Editorial Board of Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Published by Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd. All rights reserved.