Decreased heart rate by acupuncture stimulation in humans via facilitation of cardiac vagal activity and suppression of cardiac sympathetic nerve

Servo-Controlled Hind-Limb Electrical Stimulation for Short-Term Arterial Pressure Control

“…Although the vagal effect of HES was not evaluated in the present study, acupuncture stimulation might facilitate cardiac vagal activity. 30 Because chronic intermittent vagal nerve stimulation increased the survival of chronic heart failure rats, 7 chronic intermittent HES might be used as an alternative method of direct vagal nerve stimulation for the treatment of chronic heart failure.…”

A Neurovascular Blood-Flow Modulation Model via Acupuncture Induced Nitric Oxide

“…L-arginine-derived NO synthesis appears to mediate noradrenergic function during skin sympathetic nerve activation, which probably contributes to skin electrical resistance of the acupuncture points and meridians [10]. It has been speculated that acupuncture stimulates some sensory nerves or the autonomic nervous system and induces the recovery of blood circulation [110][111][112]. NO content and nNOS expression have been shown to be consistently higher at the skin acupuncture points/meridians [9].…”

The Effect of Acupuncture on Muscle Blood Volume and Oxygenation

“…Therefore, there is no influence of the central circulation on the response of local muscle oxygenation changes during and after AS. Usually, a parallel decrease in HR is observed with acupuncture-induced BP increase as a result of a baroreflex response (Nishijo et al, 1997;Lin et al, 2000). After the end of the stimulation, a parasympathetic tone or a decreased sympathetic tone appears dominant (Jänig, 1995).…”

“…However, we found only a decrease in HR without any changes in BP or sympathetic activity during and after AS. The study (Nishijo et al, 1997) examined HR response following AS with the administration of atropine and propranolol in conscious humans. Vagal nerves as well as sympathetic nerves can respond well to AS, being moved up and down about 5 mm at a frequency of 1 Hz with a 20 mm insertion depth.…”

“…Among cardiovascular effects, in particular, acupuncture stimulation elicits enhanced muscle blood flow via peripheral vasodilatation. The enhanced blood flow response induced by acupuncture may be attributable to C-fibre mediated axon reflex (Nishijo et al, 1997) resulting from noxious mechanical stimulation. Conventional invasive techniques for evaluating muscle blood flow have limitations such as a relatively great burden on subjects and tissue destruction that may influence blood flow itself.…”