Blood Pressure Regulation Using Electroacupuncture in Middle‐Aged Hypertensive Women Associated With Mitochondrial Beta‐Oxidation

Abstract

Acupuncture at specific acupoints reduces elevated blood pressure. We have shown that 8‐week electroacupuncture (EA) at P5‐6 and St36‐37 decreases blood pressure in men (38–75 year) with mild to moderate hypertension (HTN) more effectively (70% responsiveness, ≥ −6 mmHg). In contrast, the majority (64%) of middle‐aged hypertensive women were not responsive to this treatment. We decided to add acupoints that target the endocrine system as well (LI4, CV3‐4, SP 6, LV3, K3). However, the underlying mechanisms of how acupuncture lowers blood pressure remain unclear. Metabolomics provides a powerful method to assess the biochemical signature involved in cellular processes that are involved in human health and disease. By using untargeted metabolomics, therefore, we aimed to identify metabolic biomarkers and assess pathways involved in sympathoinhibitory EA and endocrine‐sympathoinhibitory EA treatment lowering blood pressure in middle‐aged perimenopausal females with mild to moderate HTN. Twenty four enrolled women ages 45 to 70 year with hypertension were randomly assigned to sympathoinhibitory EA treatment (P5‐6+St36‐37, n=10) or endocrine‐sympathoinhibitory EA treatment (P6‐LI4+St36‐Sp6+CV3‐4+Li3‐K3, n=14). Participants were not on antihypertensive medications and hormonal therapy. The blood pressure lowering responsiveness (≥ −6 mmHg) to endocrine‐sympathoinhibitory EA was 80% while only 33% of the subjects treated with sympathoinhibitory EA lowered their blood pressures. Peak systolic blood pressure (SBP) during 24 hours dropped from 169±4.1 to 157±3.3 mmHg (P=0.002) while averaged 24‐hour SBP dropped from 138±2.3 to 131±2.3 mmHg (P=0.001) in 14 subjects treated with endocrine‐sympathoinhibitory EA. The averaged 24‐hour mean blood pressure (MBP) and peak MBP decreased respectively with P values of 0.002 and 0.025 in the 14 subjects. On the other hand, 8‐week course of sympathoinhibitory EA treatment did not decrease SBP, MBP, peak SBP, and peak MAP in 10 other subjects, consistent with our prior study. Concurrently, metabolomics analysis indicated that the plasma acylcarnitines (short (P=0.03) and medium chain fatty acids (P=.008)) were reduced significantly in 14 subjects following 8‐week endocrine‐sympathoinhibitory EA treatment in contrast to sympathoinhibitory EA. Previous studies have shown that arterial stiffness and hypertension are associated with higher acylcarnitine levels which indicate higher beta‐oxidation associated with mitochondrial dysfunction. Endocrine‐sympathoinhibition EA enhances blood pressure lowering responsiveness in middle‐aged hypertensive women likely through decreasing acylcarnitine production, reflecting lower beta‐oxidation at the mitochondrial level.Support or Funding InformationAdolph Coors FoundationThis abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.