[From Biological Effects of Local Cutaneous Thermal Stimulation to Moxibustion Therapy]

Moxibustion is one of the major external therapies of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and exerts a definite favorable effect in the treatment of patients with different problems. In the present paper, the authors reviewed 38 papers about somatic thermal intervention therapy published in recent 15 years and analyzed its biological functions from local, distal, and whole body effects. The local effects include 1) improving cutaneous inflammatory illnesses as verruca, herpes simplex, Leishmania infection, cutaneous necrosis, wound disunion, and promoting percutaneous absorption of some medicines, swelling pain; 2) reliving sports fatigue and muscular injury, eliminating inflammation and pain reactions, probably by lowering local reactive oxygen species, superoxide dismutase,catalase, glutathione, etc. levels, and strengthening the flexibility of the knee-joint, and anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments; 3) increasing blood perfusion of the regional arteriola, micrangium to eliminate accumulated subcutaneous blood cells, inflammatory mediators and other metabolic products. The distal effects contain 1) increase of the distal cutaneous blood flow and suppression of the arterial stenosis; and 2) improvement of the visceral functions including the heart (ischemia), liver, gastrointestinal blood flow and smooth muscles, uterus smooth muscular tension, etc. The whole body effects include raising immunoability against cancer, and reducing tumor blood flow to damage the blood vessels in the tumor tissue, etc. In addition, the effects of thermal stimulation are affected by the temperature, stimulating duration and the stimulated positions. These research results may help us to comprehensively understand the effects and mechanisms of moxibustion therapy in the treatment of different clinical disorders.