Abstract
Acupuncture has been used in Asia to treat hypertension for a long time. We hypothesized that acupuncture on ST-36 activates eNOS signaling mechanisms to reduce hypertension. We tested the hypothesis using the hamster two-kidney, one-clip renal hypertension (2K1C) model. 30 minute daily electroacupuncture (EA) treatment for 5 days reduced mean arterial pressure from 160.0±7.6 to 129.5±8.8 mmHg (mean±SEM), compared to 115.0±7.2 mmHg in sham-operated hamsters. We used NO-sensitive microelectrodes to measure periarteriolar NO concentration. EA increased periarteriolar NO concentration from 82.3±10.2 nM to 135.1±12.6 nM in the 2K1C hamster cheek pouch microcirculation. Hypertension reduced eNOS protein relative to the sham-operated control, as measured by Western blotting. EA prevented the reduction of eNOS associated with hypertension and showed even higher eNOS expression than the sham-operated control in stomach and hamster cheek pouch tissues, which are on the stomach meridian. Analysis of liver tissue indicated that EA on ST-36 caused only a slight increase in eNOS expression in hypertensive animals compared with the non-treatment 2K1C group. The liver eNOS levels in 2K1C-treated hamsters were less than in sham-operated hamsters. We conclude 1) stimulation of eNOS is a mechanism stimulated by ST-36 elecroacupuncture to reduce blood pressure; 2) ST-36 elecroacupuncture-induced reduction of blood pressure works through the stomach meridian (supported by NIH grant 5RO1 HL 70634).
Published Version
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