Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 13, 2026
Monitoring Acupuncture Effects on Human Brain by fMRI
Published on: April 8, 2010
Effects of different acupuncture stimulations on NO content in acupoint areas
Ben Hui1, Pei-Jing Rong, Liang Li
1Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing 100700, China.
Objective:
To study the effects of different acupuncture stimulation on nitric oxide (NO) content in acupoint areas.
Methods:
The experiment was performed in 47 healthy volunteers providing informed consents. Both males and females were included in each group: 11 cases in electro-acupuncture group, 13 cases in manual-acupuncture group, 16 cases in warm-moxibustion group, and 7 cases in control group. Stimulations were given at Jianshi (PC 5) of the Pericardium Meridian and Chengshan (BL 57) of the Bladder Meridian with manual-acupuncture, electro-acupuncture and warm-moxibustion respectively. NO was collected from Ximen (PC 4) and Chengjin (BL 56) areas on the ipsilateral meridians, and the content was detected.
Results:
The content of NO in the warm-moxibustion group was higher than that in the electro-acupuncture group, the content in electro-acupuncture group was higher than that in the manual acupuncture group (P < 0.05).
Conclusion:
All the three stimulations can raise NO levels on acupoint areas significantly, and the effect moxibustion is superior to that of electro-acupuncture and manual acupuncture.
