ZHANG Wei-hua's experience in clinical treatment of somatalgia with "point-zone-strip stimulation technique" of acupuncture / 中国针灸

The clinical experience in treatment of somatalgia with "point-zone-strip stimulation technique" of acupuncture of professor ZHANG Wei-hua was summarized. Professor ZHANG integrates the theories of the cutaneous region of meridian, biaoben, "taking tender point as acupoint" and local holography as a whole in treatment of somatalgia. The "point-stimulation technique" of acupuncture (subcutaneous needling technique) is adopted for the painful site less than 3 cm in diameter, the "zone-stimulation technique" (surrounding needling technique) is for the site larger than 3 cm in diameter and the "strip-stimulation technique" (cubit-tibia needling technique) is for various acute and chronic somatalgia. These three needling techniques are applicable singly or in combination in clinical practice.

Differential temporal neural responses of pain-related regions by acupuncture at acupoint ST36: a magnetoencephalography study / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Previous neuroimaging studies primarily focused on the spatial distribution of acupuncture needling stimulation. However, a salient feature of acupuncture was its long-lasting effect. This study attempted to detect the spatial-temporal neural responses evoked by acupuncture at an analgesia acupoint ST36 by using magnetoencephalography. To further verify its functional specificity, we also adopted acupuncture at Pericardium 6 and nonacupoint as separated controls.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty-two college students, all right-handed and acupuncture naïve, participated in this study. Every participant received only one acupoint stimulation, resulting in 14 subjects in one group. Both magnetoencephalography data (151-channel whole-head system) and structural functional magnetic resonance imaging data (3D sequence with a voxel size of 1 mm(3) for anatomical localization) were collected for each subject. All processing procedures were performed in BrainStorm Toolbox.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Acupuncture at ST36 showed a significantly time-varied brain activities with different onset time. Our results presented that acupuncture at different acupoints (or comparing with nonacupoint) can specifically induce neural responses in different brain areas-acupuncture at ST36 can specifically induce the neural responses of pain-inhibition areas, while acupuncture at PC6 can specifically induce the activities of the insula and amygdala.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>In the present study, we attempted to detect the temporal neural responses underlying the functional specificity of acupuncture at ST36, using acupoint belonging to different meridians and non-acupoint with efficacy-irreverent as separate controls. The specific neural substrates involving acupuncture at different acupoints may be related to its functional specificity in clinical settings.</p>

Observation on acupuncture at "Neitinggong" for antagonisting ototoxicity caused by gentamicin / 中国针灸

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the effect of acupuncture at "Neitinggong" drug-induced deafness.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Guinea pig deafness model was prepared by injection of gentamicin (GM). Acupuncture was respectively given at the points "Neitinggong" "Tinggong" (SI 19) and non-acupoints on the auricle in the experimental animals in different groups and the effects of different points on the auditory brainstem response and cochlear hair cells were observed.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There was a significant difference between GM group and Neitinggong group, and between GM group and Tinggong group. There was no significant difference between GM group and the auricle group, and between Neitinggong group and Tinggong group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Acupuncture at "Neitinggong" can strength the function of the internal ear, and relieve the injury of cochlear hair cells caused by gentamicin, which is an effective acupoint for treatment of drug-induced deafness.</p>