Acupoint Catgut Embedding Alleviates Insomnia in Different Chinese Medicine Syndrome Types: A Randomized Controlled Trial / 中国结合医学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the effects and safety of catgut embedding on alleviating insomnia.@*METHODS@#Totally 510 patients with insomnia were divided into 5 Chinese medicine (CM) syndrome types: Xin (Heart) and Pi (Spleen) deficiency, yin deficiency with excess fire, Xin and gut qi deficiency, Wei (Stomach) disorder, and qi and blood deficiency, respectively. These 5 types of patients were randomly assigned to a catgut embedding group, an acupuncture group or a medication group (30 cases in Xin and Pi deficiency type, Wei disorder type, Xin and gut qi deficiency type, respectively; 40 cases in yin deficiency with excess fire type and qi and blood deficiency type, respectively). In the catgut embedding group, patients were treated by implanting catgut into acupoints once every 10 days for a total of 30 days. In the acupuncture group, patients were treated with acupuncture once per day over 30 days (excluding weekends); and patients in the medication group took 1 mg Eurodin Tablet orally every night for 30 days. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was evaluated before treatment, on 30 and 60 days after the first treatment, respectively. The International Unified Sleep Efficiency Value (IUSEV) was measured at 30 and 60 days. The safety was evaluated after treatment and adverse events were analyzed.@*RESULTS@#The objective PSQI scores including subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance, daytime dysfunction, and total scores at 30 days were significantly improved compared with pre-treatment in the catgut embedding and acupuncture groups (P<0.01 or P<0.05). At 30 days, the PSQI scores in catgut embedding group were superior to the medication group in the patients with each type of insomnia, with the exception of sleep duration (P<0.01 or P<0.05). At 60 days, significant differences were found between the catgut embedding group and the medication group (P<0.01 for all indices). The IUSEV scores in the catgut embedding group were significantly higher than the acupuncture group at 60 days, and the scores in acupuncture group were higher than the medication group at 30 days (P<0.05 for all types). No severe adverse events were found in this study.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Acupoint catgut embedding and acupuncture were more effective than medication in alleviating insomnia syndrome in different Chinese medicine syndrome type. However, the sustained effects of acupoint catgut embedding were superior to acupuncture.

Effect of evodiamine in inducing apoptosis of gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells through mTOR signal pathway / 中国中药杂志

Evodiamine is one of the most important antitumor alkaloid from evodiamine. This study focused on the mechanism of evodiamine in inducing apoptosis of gastric cancer SGC-7901 cells through mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signal pathway, in order to explore its antitumor mechanism and lay a foundation for clinical treatment of gastric cancer. The sole cytotoxic effect of evodiamine on SGC-7901 cells and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was observed by MTT assay. After the cells were respectively intervened with single evodiamine or evodiamine combined with z-VAD-fmk, the gene expressions of mTOR, p70S6K and 4EBP1 were analyzed by real-time PCR, and the protein expressions of mTOR and p-mTOR were detected by western blot. The result showed that evodiamine inhibited the apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells in a time-dependent manner, with no cytotoxic effect on human PBMCs. After the respective intervention with single evodiamine or evodiamine combined with z-VAD-fmk, the cells became round and floated in medium. Compared with the control group, both treatment methods can inhibit mTOR, 4E-BP1 and p70S6K gene expressions, with significant differences. Compared with single evodiamine, evodiamine combined with z-VAD-fmk showed a higher inhibitory rate in gene expression. According to the Western Blot result, evodiamine can inhibit the protein expressions of mTOR and p-mTOR regardless of the combination with z-VAD-fmk, with a higher inhibitory rate after z-VAD-fmk blocked caspase. In conclusion, evodiamine may promote the apoptosis of SGC-7901 cells through mTOR signal pathway.

Primary dysmenorrhea treated with staging acupoint catgut embedment therapy: a randomized controlled trial / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To observe the short-term and long-term efficacies on primary dysmenorrhea treated with staging acupoint embedment therapy.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy cases of primary dysmenorrhea were randomized into an embedment therapy group and a fenbid group, 35 cases in each one. In the embedment therapy group, the embedment therapy was applied twice during the menstrual cycle, one treatment 3 days before menstruation and one treatment during the 12th-14th days of menstruation, respectively. Guanyuan (CV 4), Zigong (EX-CA 1), Diji (SP 8) and Ciliao (BL 32) were the main acupoints in the treatment 3 days before menstruation. Shenshu (BL 23), Ganshu (BL 18) and Pishu (BL 20) were the main acupoints in the treatment during menstruation. In the fenbid group, fenbid was prescribed for oral administration, 0.3 g each time, twice a day, starting 3 days before menstruation till pain was relieved. The treatment of one menstrual cycle was one session. The continuous treatment of 3 menstrual cycles was required. The short-term and long-term efficacies were evaluated at the end of the 3rd cycle and in 3 months after the treatment terminal. The dysmenorrhea score was used to evaluate the efficacy. Visual analogue scale (VAS) and SF-36 were for the assessment of pain degree and life quality.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) The total effective rate was 91.4% (32/35) in the embedment therapy group after the 3 menstrual cycles, which was better than 74.3% (26/35) in the fenbid group (P < 0.01). In the follow-up stage, the total effective rate was 91.4% (32/35) in the embedment therapy group, which was better than 40.0% (14/35) in the fenbid group (P < 0.01). (2) The differences were not significant in dysmenorrhea score and VAS score after the 1st and 2nd menstrual cycle treatments between the two groups (all P > 0.05). In the 3rd menstrual cycle and the follow-up stage, the dysmenorrhea score and VAS score were reduced obviously in the embedment therapy group as compared with those in the fenbid group (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The rebound effect occurred in the follow-up stage in the fenbid group. (3) In the 3rd menstrual cycle and the follow-up stage, the improvement in the total score of life quality of the embedment therapy group was superior apparently to the fenbid group (P < 0.05, P < 0. 01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The staging acupoint embedment therapy achieves the superior short-term and long-term efficacies as compared with the oral administration of fenbid in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea. As the symptoms of dysmenorrhea and pain are relieved, the life quality is improved.</p>