Review of the mechanism of essential hypertension treated by acupuncture / 中国针灸

The relevant literature of pathogenesis of essential hypertension (EH) and the clinical efficacy of acupuncture treatment of EH was retrieved from January 1, 1999 to February 28, 2018 in the CNKI and PubMed databases, and aimed to summarize and explore the mechanism of antihypertensive by acupuncture.It has been found that acupuncture exerts antihypertensive effect by coordinating multi-system, multi-target, multi-layer adjustment mechanism, such as acupuncture inhibiting of central and peripheral sympathetic nerve activity, rejusting immune system and expression of inflammatory response factors, regulating the balance of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), improving vascular structure and function, the anti-oxidative stress and promoting autophagy.

A secondary discussion on acupoint characteristic / 中国针灸

With references of historical materials and modern literature regarding acupoint characteristic, a secondary analysis on the concept, origin, related factors and research methods in present research of acupoint characteristic is performed. The acupoint characteristic should be considered as an acupoint inherent attribute that could explain physiological and pathological manifestations at the same time, including location attribute and function attribute, which is related with time and treatment method. Some re-thinking on acupoint characteristic is proposed as well as advice on further research method and direction, hoping to promote the research development of acupoint characteristic.