Acupuncture to Danzhong but not to Zhongting increases the cardiac vagal component of heart rate variability

摘要: There is currently no convincing evidence that acupuncture has any specific effects on autonomic nervous function as assessed by heart rate variability (HRV). We examined whether the stimulation of neighboring acupunctural points, Danzhong (CV17) and Zhongting (CV16) anterior median line thorax, induced different HRV. In 14 healthy males, epifascial (single instantaneous needle fascial surface without producing De-Qi sensation) was performed at CV17 CV16 days in a clinical study utilizing cross-over design. found CV17, but not CV16, decreased (P=0.01, repeated measures ANOVA) increased power high-frequency component HRV, an index cardiac vagal activity (P=0.01). The low-frequency to ratio, sympathetic showed significant changes for either point. Our observations could be explained nonspecific or psychological/placebo stimulation. This provides strong presence point causes modulation function.