Acupuncture and Aging

The art of acupuncture has existed for thousands of years. It has been used extensively in eastern medicine and has a wide range of health benefits. Many of these health benefits have yet to be proven as the original practice was based on the flow of energy throughout the body. Although the existence of qi is debated, the idea is mostly likely based on an ancient understanding of the endocrine system.

It is now known that acupuncture can do more than bring balance to your mind body connection. It can actually change the way you age. A fantastic experiment demonstrated how acupuncture can actually regulate genetic expression in the hippocampus that is related to aging. One of the genes that was affected was the Mdm-2 gene. When expression of this gene diminishes apoptosis begins to occur and neurons are lost. The treatment actually prevented changes to this gene at the mRNA level which led to a significant lessening of the damage caused by apoptosis. More importantly, were the effects on NDP kinase B, Hsp84, Hsp86 and YB-1.

According to the free radical theory of aging, aging can be caused in part by oxidative damage done to cells which is caused by free radicals in the body. This is way so many health experts advocate the intake of antioxidants. YB-1 in particular has wide ranging functions, but many of them are related to DNA repair, transcription, and translation. Meanwhile, NDP kinase B may play a large role in preventing oxidative damage. After the acupuncture treatment, all of these genes were up-regulated.

This just all goes to show how ancient practices may very well be relevant in today’s world of modern medicine and science. Before one dismisses the practice as a pseudoscience of the holistic variety, we must stop to ponder the extent to which our ancestors were in tuned to their bodies. Although the treatment method may be expensive, finding a qualified practioner maybe be worth every penny.

Chinese Acupuncture Affects Brain's Ability To Regulate Pain

According to Science Daily, University of Michigan performed a study that proves that Chinese acupuncture affects the brains ability to regulate pain. The studies participants were 20 females who have fibromyalgia. Fibromyalgia is a common syndrome in which a person has long-term, body-wide pain and tenderness in the joints, muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues. They must of had the syndrome for more than a year and have experienced pain for at least 50 percent of the time. During the study, the participants had to agree not to take any new medication. The patients had eight treatments and had position emission tomography, or PET, scans of the brain during the first treatment and then repeated a month later after the eighth treatment.

A result of the study was that acupuncture increased the binding availability of mu-opoid receptors (MOR) in regions of the brain that process and dampen pain signals – specifically the cingulate, insula, caudate, thalamus and amygdala. There are other medications like painkillers/ morphine that are thought to work by binding to these opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord. The reduction of pain was associated with the increased binding availability of the receptors.

One possible conclusion of this study is that patients with chronic pain can be treated with acupuncture and they might be more responsive to opioid medications since the receptors seem to have more binding availability. The researchers of this study strongly believe that acupuncture can help reduce chronic pain and can help individuals who are affected by syndromes like fibromyalgia.

Genetics May Help Explain Placebo Effect, Researchers Say

The placebo effect is when a patient is given a treatment that they believe will help their condition, however the actually treatment has not really been proven to work (Freeman 2012). According to researchers, a patient's response to a placebo is based largely on genetics. In a trial dealing with irritable bowel syndrome, patients were given what they believed to be acupuncture treatment. One group received no treatment at all, a second group received fake acupuncture with little or no face to face contact with the specialist, and a third group received the same fake acupuncture, but was given more interaction with the acupunturist.



What was found was that patients containing two copies of the allele methionine showed a positive response to the placebo. Patients with two copies of the valine allele were less likely to response to the placebo. Interestingly, even the patients who contained the two alleles of methionine responded better to the fake acupuncture when they had more interaction with the caregiver. This suggests that personal interaction may have something to do with the response.

I would like to read more about the genetic relationship that the placebo effect has when used in the treatment of a different syndrome. I am skeptical because irritable bowel syndrome has been shown to be anxiety related, therefore the results could have been due to the patient feeling more relaxed about having received a treatment, or about speaking to a physician. The results may be different if the patients were instead complaining of arthritis, or something else musculoskeletal.

Freeman S. How the placebo effect works. 2012. [Internet.] http://health.howstuffworks.com/medicine/medication/placebo-effect.htm