[The action of acupuncture on pain. Physiological basis]

A review of experimental studies concerning acupuncture gives a current indication as to the neurophysiological mechanisms of its hypoalgesic effects. In man, these effects are demonstrated by study of the nociceptive flexion reflex. Other methods for the study of pain threshold have revealed a hypoalgesic action in man and in the animal. The authors analyse the pathways and structures necessary to analgesia: peripheral afferent pathway, ascending pathways, suprasegmental controls. The inhibitory mechanisms activated by acupuncture appear to be identical to those involved in analgesia by morphine and by central stimulation.