Scientific American 【一分鐘科普】揭示針灸止痛的原理 Mechanism Points To Acupuncture Pain Relief http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=mechanism-points-to-acupuncture-pai-10-05-30 http://tinyurl.com/235pyos In mice, inserting and rotating acupuncture needles releases adenosine, which blocks pain signals. Karen Hopkin reports. Research on acupuncture just got a shot in the arm. Well, a needle near the knee, actually. Because a study in the journal Nature Neuroscience [Maiken Nedergaard et al] has uncovered a mechanism that could explain how this traditional healing process can help reduce pain. Acupuncture has long been tried against all sorts of ailments, from aches and pains to infertility. And though the Western world treats the procedure with some skepticism, it's actually endorsed by the World Health Organization for a couple dozen different conditions. But how can sticking needles in your skin be good for you? Scientists tried the technique on mice that had a pain in the paw, inserting and rotating the needles in the mouse version of one of the most effective acupoints in Chinese medicine. And they found that the tissues around the treated acupoint get flooded with adenosine, a chemical that provides relief by preventing pain signals from reaching the brain. This biochemical blockade reduced the animals' discomfort, as did treating them with drugs that boost the amount of adenosine in the tissue. The scientists say the pain relief stems from the body's natural response to minor tissue injury. So acupuncture』s analgesic effect may have finally been pinned down. —Karen Hopkin http://article.yeeyan.org/view/130962/108086 在老鼠身上插入針灸針，並進行旋轉，會釋放出一種叫腺苷的物質，它能夠阻止疼痛信號 傳入大腦。卡倫·霍普金報導 研究針灸就是進行皮下注射，更確切地說，是在膝關節附近扎針。因為《自然神經科學》 雜誌上的一篇研究已經揭露出針灸這種傳統的治癒方法緩解疼痛的原理。 長期以來，針灸已經被用於治療從周身不適到不孕症等各種各樣的疾病。雖然西方國家仍 對此持懷疑態度，在許多不同的情況下，世界衛生組織卻對此十分贊同。但是，為什麼把 針扎入皮膚就會對你有益呢？ 科學家施針灸於爪疼的老鼠身上，他們將針插在中國內科中認為的老鼠身上最有效的穴位 ，並旋轉針頭。然後他們發現被施針穴位附近的組織中充滿了腺苷，它是一種能夠阻止疼 痛信號傳入大腦的化學物質。 這種生化封鎖減少了動物的不適感，就像通過藥物來提高組織中腺苷含量來緩解疼痛一樣 。科學家認為，疼痛的緩解從身體的必然反應開始，一直延伸到較小的組織損傷。因此， 針灸的止痛效果被最終確定下來。 —卡倫·霍普金 --

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