Interaction between Acupuncture and Drug
Journal Title: Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research (BJSTR) - Year 2018, Vol 6, Issue 4
Abstract
Can the acupuncture stimulations impact on the effect or lower the dose of drugs stimulation using at the same time and the same organism? In recent years, we applied electroacupuncture (EA), a physical stimulation and some drugs (insulin, hypoglycemic agents, steroids or volatile anesthetics. etc.) at the same time on the same animal model to test the hypoglycemic activity obtain that the EA stimulation may elevated the hypoglycemic effect of drugs. In another physical stimulation, Ear acupoints were stimulated by small balls obtained that lower down the effect dose of atropine for the treatment of myopia. There were some interactions such as: antagonism, synergism, potentiation and summation. etc. This is an important issue worth for further investigations. As we know there are some interactions between two drugs named drug-drug interaction. One drug can be changed the effect of the other drug which is applied before or at the same time with the other drug [1]. The bad drug interaction may change of the pharmacological activity to induce lower effect of drug, even to archive over dose or toxicity [2]. But, well drug interaction may archive better effect than used alone, lower down the effective dose or against the disadvantages. There are several types of drug interaction such as, antagonism, synergism, potentiation and summation etc [3]. The mechanisms of drug interaction may due to the change of pharmacokinetic such as absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion [4]. To answer a question, can the acupuncture stimulations impact on the effect or lower the dose of drugs stimulation, at the same time and the same organism? Several our previous studies will be discussed and try to answer this question [5-8]. Acupuncture, electroacupuncture (EA) or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) are the method of physical stimulations on the acupoint that would change the effect or their disadvantage effect of drugs (insulin, hypoglycemic agents, steroids or volatile anesthetics..etc)[6-12]. A physical stimulation, EA and exogenous regular insulin, which the hypoglycemic onset is 30 min, were used on the Normal rat and Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat at the same time and compare with non-EA group, only injecting regular insulin in 2006 [6] .The more hypoglycemic activity in bilateral Zusanli acupoint (ST36) EA group was obtained than in the non-EA group 30 min after the start of insulin injecting to the normal rat. Also, 60 minutes after the start of insulin injection, the hypoglycemic activity of the EA group still was significantly higher than that of the non-EA group. The STZ-induced diabetic rats showed the same trends as the normal rats, including that more hypoglycemic activity for the EA group was obtained than for the non-EA group[6]. In this case, the physical stimulation, EA may enhance the hypoglycemic activity of regular insulin and/or insulin sensitivity that would be thought as a summation or synergism or potentiation effect. There were some kinds of hypoglycemic agents such as rosiglitazone, metformine..etc using combined with EA for observing the interaction on the hypoglycemic effect [7-11]. In 2009, the hypoglycemic effect of rosiglitazone was increased by EA in both normal and type 2 diabetic rats, indicating that the application of EA may enhance the hypoglycemic action of this insulin sensitizer. Also, a randomized control clinical trial was reported to reveal this interaction between EA and rosiglitazone in 2013. This combined therapy seems to suppress endogenous insulin secretion of type 2 diabetic patient by improving insulin resistance via a reduction in plasma free fatty acid (FFA). Until 2015, a report entitled “Electroacupuncture plus metformin lowers glucose levels and facilitates insulin sensitivity by activating mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in steroid-induced insulin-resistant rats” showed that this combined therapy resulted in a greater glucoselowering effect, higher insulin sensitivity, lower plasma FFA levels and higher levels of MAPK than metformin alone [11]. This study also showed a physical stimulation, EA enhance the hypoglycemic effect of hypoglycemic drug that would be thought as a summation or synergism or potentiation effect.
Authors and Affiliations
Chih Ming Lin, Yuan Chiang Chung, Chung Yuh Tzeng, Ying I Chen, Tai Hao Hsu, Shih Liang Chang
Keywords
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- EP ID EP585802
- DOI 10.26717/BJSTR.2018.06.001379
- Views 167
- Downloads 0
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