[Progress of studies on effects of acupuncture on cellular signal transduction]

In order to elucidate the underlying mechanism of acupuncture in regulating different physiological functional activities at cellular level, abundant researches have been conducted on cellular signal transduction activities. The present article preliminarily analyzes acupuncture stimulation induced various cellular signaling pathways from the afferent physical signals of the regional mechanical stimulation at the acupoint, activation of receptors of the cellular membrane such as Guanine nucleotide binding protein coupled receptors, etc., intracellular second messenger molecules including cAMP, Ca2+, inositol triphosphate, diacyl glycerol, etc., signal transduction pathways as mitogen-activated protein kinase, Janus kinase-signal transduction and transcription activator, nitrogen oxide-cyclic guanylic acid, etc., to the extremely complicated cellular signal transduction networks. In addition, the present paper also makes a discussion on the present developing situation of acupuncture research. It is possible that the connective tissue of the body surface will become a key point in the future research on acupuncture remedy. More attention should be paid to the interrelation among various intracellular signaling pathways and the network of cellular signal transduction in the research on acupuncture therapy for regulating a variety of physiological effects.