Alternative Medicine Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Alternative Medicine, including details on complementary medicine, alternative therapies, homeopathy. | ||||||||
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Minimal immunoreactive plasma beta-endorphin and decrease of cortisol at standard analgesia or different acupuncture techniques.Harbach H, Moll B, Boedeker RH, Vigelius-Rauch U, Otto H, Muehling J, Hempelmann G, Markart P University of Giessen, Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care, Pain Therapy, Palliative Medicine, Germany. heinz.harbach@chiru.med.uni-giessen.de BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Acupuncture has been claimed to be associated with activation of the endogenous antinociceptive system. The analgesic effects of acupuncture have been ascribed to beta-endorphin interacting with opioid receptors. However, firstly, the release of beta-endorphin into the blood has been proven to be induced by stress, i.e. under dysphoric conditions, and, secondly, if released under stress, beta-endorphin has been shown not to be analgesic. Our aim was to test whether beta-endorphin immunoreactive material is released into the cardiovascular compartment during acupuncture comparing the most frequently used types of acupuncture with standard pain treatment under apparently low stress conditions. METHODS: This prospective study included 15 male patients suffering from chronic low back pain. beta-Endorphin immunoreactive material and cortisol were measured in the plasma of patients who underwent, in random order, therapy according to a standard pain treatment, traditional Chinese acupuncture, sham acupuncture, electro acupuncture and electro acupuncture at non-acupuncture points before, at and after the treatment. Statistical analysis was performed using two-way ANOVA with repeated measures. RESULTS: A decrease in plasma cortisol concentration measured over the five treatment protocols was highly significant (P < 0.001). The beta-endorphin immunoreactive material concentrations in plasma were minimal at all times and in all treatment conditions. The influence of treatments by various acupuncture procedures on cortisol and beta-endorphin immunoreactive material plasma concentrations over the three time points was not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: beta-endorphin immunoreactive material in blood is not released by any type of acupuncture as tested under low stress conditions. Published 14 February 2007 in Eur J Anaesthesiol, 24(4): 370-6.
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