Acupuncture regulates gut motility and secretion via nerve reflexes

Digestive disorders impose a heavy medical and economical burden on society and they represent one of the most common reasons for seeking medical consultation. Acupuncture is one of the procedures available to treat these conditions; however, partly because of the limited scientific evidence as yet obtained, the method has not been widely accepted by the medical community as an evidence-based effective treatment. This article presents some recent experimental work on the effectiveness of acupuncture in changing motility in the stomach and duodenum in anesthetized rats. We have shown that electrical or mechanical acupuncture of abdominal points inhibits visceral motility; the effect is due to a spinal reflex that involves activation of sympathetic nerve fibers and requires a peripheral stimulation of skin or muscles capable of activating group VI afferent nerve fibers. In contrast, acupuncture to a hindlimb enhances gastric or duodenal motility, and the reflex at work is supra-spinal and involves the vagus nerve; the peripheral stimulation activates type III afferent fibers. In addition to the reflexes that are activated, the effects of acupuncture may be mediated via centers in the limbic system, the hypothalamus and the brain stem.