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Peng Li

Peng Li

University of California, Irvine USA

Title: Neurotransmitters related to the acupuncture inhibitory effect on hypertension

Biography

Biography: Peng Li

Abstract

All antihypertensive medications have adverse side effects. However, physicians are reluctant to recommend acupuncture, owing to its controversial reports in treating hypertension and the unclear physiological mechanisms. Recently, according to the results of our data over 60 years animal experiments we conducted a clinical trial and showed that EA at certain acupoints reduced high blood pressure in 70 % patients with mild to moderate hypertension, and the effect showed a slow onset and long-lasting. In animal experiments we demonstrated that EA inhibited cardiovascular sympathoexcitatory neurons through activation of neurons in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, the ventrolateral PAG (vlPAG) in the midbrain and the nuclei raphe in the medulla, which in turn, inhibited the activity of premotor sympathetic neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medullar (rVLM) to reduce blood pressure. The arcuate also projects to the rVLM and contains endorphin. The neurotransmitters glutamate, acetylcholine, opioids, GABA, nociceptin, serotonin and endocannabinoids all participate in the EA hypotensive response, their importance varies between nuclei. The long-lasting inhibition of EA is related to opioids and GABA in the rVLM, neural circuitry between the arcuate and vlPAG, and prolongation of the increase in preproenkephalin mRNA and enkephalin expression in the rVLM and arcuate. The inhibition of sympathetic activity, renin, angiotensin and aldosterone are quite important. Thus, a number of mechanisms underlying the EA effect on hypertension have been suggested.