三磷酸腺苷与针刺效应相关性研究评述

A Review of Recent Researches on Correlation between ATP and Acupuncture Efficacies

三磷酸腺苷(ATP)是一种核苷酸,参与细胞能量代谢、细胞内外信号转导、细胞结构维持、DNA和RNA合成等。针刺信号传导过程中,ATP可影响针刺效应,针刺可改变ATP、ATP酶在相关靶器官或中枢系统的含量,ATP在针刺效应中扮演了重要的角色。

It has been documented that adenosine triphosphate （ATP） is a multifunctional nucleoside triphosphate used in cells, including chemical energy transportation, extra- and intracellular signaling, cell structure maintaining, DNA and RNA synthe- sis, etc. In the present paper, the authors reviewed studies on the involvement of ATP in different efficacies of acupuncture intervention from the following four aspects. 1 ） ATP release in the stimulated acupoint area is one of the key factors for producing acupuncture analgesia; 2） Acupuncture induced suppression of ATP activity in the central nervous system results in pain reliefs 3） ATP application on the human body surface may strengthen the sensation propagation along the meridian; 4） Favorable regulation of acupuncture intervention on the abnormal functional activities of some viscera often accompanies with an increase of ATP content and ATPase activity in the related internal organs. It has been proposed that ATP, Ca^2＋ and reactive oxygen species （ROS） are closely related each other in the life activities of the organism. Hence, a reasonable regulation on ATP levels in the related organs of the body may be a new approach for raising clinical therapeutic effects of acupuncture therapy.