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Zusanli

Zusanli (Chinese: 足三里, ST36) is an acupoint, a point of the skin that is stimulated, with various techniques, in the practice of acupuncture. It is located below the knee, on the anterior tibialis muscle, along the stomach meridian.

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Therapeutic uses and scientific validation

The stimulation of zusanli was shown to decrease inflammation, as evidenced by decreased cytokines (including interleukin-6) and inhibition of edema in a rat model of inflammation involving carrageenan injection.^[1] Zusanli activation also improves insulin sensitivity ^[2] and cerebral blood flow (an effect mediated by nitric oxide),^[3] while it decreases sympathetic nerve activity and arterial pressure.^[4] An analgesic effect, mediated in part by nitric oxide as well, through the upregulation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS),^[5] an increase in endogenous opiates,^[6]^[7] muscarinic cholinergic receptors and serotonin receptors 5-HT1a and 5-HT3, was repeatedly evidenced.

The stimulation of zusanli decreases the locomotor activity elicited by nicotine administration and decreases Fos-like immunoreactivity in the basal ganglia (striatum and nucleus accumbens) in a rat model of nicotine sensitisation.^[8] Those changes in the basal ganglia also improve the alcohol withdrawal syndrome in similar experimental conditions.^[9]

References

^ Chae Y, Hong MS, Kim GH, et al (2007). "Protein array analysis of cytokine levels on the action of acupuncture in carrageenan-induced inflammation". Neurol. Res. 29 Suppl 1: S55-8. doi:10.1179/016164107X172365. PMID 17359642.
^ Chang SL, Lin KJ, Lin RT, Hung PH, Lin JG, Cheng JT (2006). "Enhanced insulin sensitivity using electroacupuncture on bilateral Zusanli acupoints (ST 36) in rats". Life Sci. 79 (10): 967-71. doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2006.05.005. PMID 16762373.
^ Hsieh CL, Chang QY, Lin IH, et al (2006). "The study of electroacupuncture on cerebral blood flow in rats with and without cerebral ischemia". Am. J. Chin. Med. 34 (2): 351-61. PMID 16552844.
^ Michikami D, Kamiya A, Kawada T, et al (2006). "Short-term electroacupuncture at Zusanli resets the arterial baroreflex neural arc toward lower sympathetic nerve activity". Am. J. Physiol. Heart Circ. Physiol. 291 (1): H318-26. doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00975.2005. PMID 16501021.
^ Kim EH, Park HJ, Lee H, et al (2007). "Analgesic effects by electroacupuncture were decreased in inducible nitric oxide synthase knockout mice". Neurol. Res. 29 Suppl 1: S28-31. doi:10.1179/016164107X172257. PMID 17359637.
^ Kim SK, Moon HJ, Na HS, et al (2006). "The analgesic effects of automatically controlled rotating acupuncture in rats: mediation by endogenous opioid system". The journal of physiological sciences : JPS 56 (3): 259-62. doi:10.2170/physiolsci.SC002706. PMID 16839460.
^ Jung JY, Yang HR, Jeong YJ, et al (2006). "Effects of acupuncture on c-Fos expression in brain after noxious tooth stimulation of the rat". Am. J. Chin. Med. 34 (6): 989-1003. PMID 17163588.
^ Chae Y, Yang CH, Kwon YK, et al (2004). "Acupuncture attenuates repeated nicotine-induced behavioral sensitization and c-Fos expression in the nucleus accumbens and striatum of the rat". Neurosci. Lett. 358 (2): 87-90. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2003.12.121. PMID 15026155.
^ Kim JH, Chung JY, Kwon YK, et al (2005). "Acupuncture reduces alcohol withdrawal syndrome and c-Fos expression in rat brain". Am. J. Chin. Med. 33 (6): 887-96. PMID 16355445.

Category: Acupuncture points

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Zusanli". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.