Jisheng Han

Acupuncture: From Pain Relief to Treatment of Drug Addiction

Dr. Ji-Sheng Han, Professor and Director.Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University - Beijing, China .

Wednesday, June 12, 2002 @ 4 p.m. - Grace Auditorium Acupuncture is a component of the health care system in China, which can be traced back for at least 2500 years. The ancient technique of inserting a metallic needle into the skin and manipulating in a sophisticated and mysterious way has now largely been replaced by "electroacupuncture (EA)", which involves electrical stimulation with well-defined intensity, frequency, and pulse width.

Decades of our research demonstrate that EA is capable of achieving its, in some cases magical, clinical effects by mobilizing the release of endogenous opiate-like substances in the brain (such as enkephalin, endorphin and endomorphin) in a frequency-dependent manner. On the other hand, excessive EA produces anti-opiate substances, such as cholecystokinin (CCK), that counteracts the analgesic effect of EA. Therefore, the efficacy of EA analgesia depends on the induction of a balance between the relative potency of opioid and anti-opioid substances in the central nervous system. This is probably a good sample of the "Yin and Yang balance" theory that forms the backbone of the ancient Eastern philosophy. In recent years, EA has also been used for the treatment of heroin addicts with high efficiency. Animal and human studies revealed that EA of high frequency is very efficient to suppress the withdrawal syndrome (physical dependence), whereas that of low frequency is very effective to reduce craving (psychic dependence). The use of portable EA device for suppression of drug withdrawal syndrome and heroine craving (by self administration of EA at the designated acupoints) may open a new field of non-pharmacological treatment to combat the problem of drug abuse..