The Effects of Acupuncture at the Zusanli (ST36) Acupoint on Blood Pressure and Cardiomyocytes

針刺對先天性高血壓大白鼠之血壓和心肌細胞的影響

吳宏乾(Hung-Chien wu) ； 林昭庚(Jaung-Geng Lin) ； 朱俊憲(Chun-Hsien Chu) ； 張永賢(Yung-Hsien Chang) ； 張成國(Chung-Gwo Chang) ； 謝慶良(Ching-Liang Hsieh) ； 蔡欣潔(Angela Hsin-Chieh Tsai) ； 郭薇雯(Wei-Wen Kuo) ； 劉哲育(Jer-Yuh Liu) ； 黃志揚(Chih-Yang)

《Mid-Taiwan Journal of Medicine》 8卷4期 (2003/11) Pp. 183-191

https://doi.org/10.6558/MTJM.2003.8(4).1

摘要

目的　針刺常被用來治療心臟疾病和高血壓，如果針刺可以預防心肌肥大，那就可以用來預防心臟過度負荷，如此便可阻止繼而發生的心臟衰竭或猝死。
方法　本實驗採用正常血壓與先天性高血壓的大白鼠，針刺高血壓大白鼠雙側足三里(ST36)穴，並偵測大白鼠尾壓及股動脈壓變化，左心室重量，心臟重量，左心室重、心臟全重與體重之比例及心肌細胞大小之改變。
結果　發現針刺足三里第二天和第五天尾壓明顯下降。治療三天後，大白鼠的股動脈壓明顯下降，雖然心臟重量及心肌細胞大小變化不大，仍顯示短期針刺此穴位可改善大白鼠之高血壓。在經過較長期的六天針刺後，足三里針刺組除股動脈壓顯著下降外，在足三里(ST36)針刺組發現左心室重量／體重和心臟重量／體重比值雖無統計上顯著意義，但卻有下降趨勢。更在足三里(ST36)針刺組發現，大白鼠心肌細胞大小顯著較小。
結論　針刺足三里(ST36)除了具降血壓之效果外，更具抑制先天生性高血壓大白鼠心肌細胞肥大的現象。相信採用穴位針刺加上藥物的配合，將可成為一絕佳高血壓及心肌肥大的治療方式。

關鍵字

針刺 ； 心肌細胞肥大 ； 高血壓 ； 足三里

並列摘要

Objectives. If acupuncture is able to prevent hypertrophy of the heart, it can prevent the heart from overloading and thus prevent heart failure or sudden death. We therefore studied the effects of acupuncture on blood pressure and cardiomyocytes.
Methods. Rats with spontaneous hypertension were divided into two acupuncture treatment groups and one non-treatment group. The treatment groups were classified as sham acupoint and Zusanli (ST36) acupoint groups. The measurements recorded included changes in tail pressure, femoral arterial pressure, left ventricular weight (LVW), whole heart weight (WHW), body weight (BW), LVW/BW and WHW/BW ratios and the size of the cardiomyocytes.
Results. The results showed that blood pressure of subjects which were needled on the Zusanli (ST36) point for 3 days dropped, although there were no significant changes in the weight and size of the heart. Acupuncture at the Zusanli (ST36) point seemed to improve hypertension in the short term. Significant changes in femoral arterial pressure were observed in all rats when they were treated at the Zusanli (ST36) point for 6 days. In the Zusanli (ST36) acupoint group, the LVW/BW and the WHW/BW ratios did not change significantly. Cardiomyocytes significantly reduced in size in the Zusanli (ST36) treatment group.
Conclusions. Acupuncture at the Zusanli (ST36) point not only lowers blood pressure, but also prevents hypertrophy of cardiomyocytes in spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHR). Therefore, acupuncture could be a good treatment modality for hypertension and hypertrophy of the heart.

並列關鍵字

acupuncture ； cardiomyocyte hypertrophy ； hypertension ； Zusanli (ST36)