[A review of recent researches on correlation between ATP and acupuncture efficacies]

It has been documented that adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a multifunctional nucleoside triphosphate used in cells, including chemical energy transportation, extra- and intracellular signaling, cell structure maintaining, DNA and RNA synthesis, etc. In the present paper, the authors reviewed studies on the involvement of ATP in different efficacies of acupuncture intervention from the following four aspects. 1) ATP release in the stimulated acupoint area is one of the key factors for producing acupuncture analgesia; 2) Acupuncture induced suppression of ATP activity in the central nervous system results in pain relief; 3) ATP application on the human body surface may strengthen the sensation propagation along the meridian; 4) Favorable regulation of acupuncture intervention on the abnormal functional activities of some viscera often accompanies with an increase of ATP content and ATPase activity in the related internal organs. It has been proposed that ATP, Ca2+ and reactive oxygen species (ROS) are closely related each other in the life activities of the organism. Hence, a reasonable regulation on ATP levels in the related organs of the body may be a new approach for raising clinical therapeutic effects of acupuncture therapy.