| Abstract: | We know that different acupuncture manipulations produce different acupuncture effects.However, the mechanism is still unclear.The neural system has the function of encoding, which means different stimulation information is encoded in the neural signals and transported to the central neural system.We thought whether the mechanism is associated with the neural encoding or not.Action potentials(neural electrical signals) of peripheral afferent nerve, spinal dorsal horn neurons, and neurons in related brain nuclei evoked by different acupuncture manipulations, including lifting-thrusting manipulations and twirling manipulations with different frequency, were recorded in our study.These signals were analyzed with linear and nonlinear analysis methods.The results showed that: 1) The neural electrical signals evoked by acupuncture were chaotic, which means they are not random signals.2) The discharge frequency of the peripheral afferent nerve and the spinal dorsal horn neurons increased progressivelyfollowing with the increasing acupuncture manipulation frequency.But the discharge in the higher nervous center(the related brain neuronal nuclei) does not show the similar variation.This study indicates that the neural electrical signals evoked by different acupuncture manipulations are different to one another, and have an inner regularity.In the next work, the organ's effect will be observed combined with recording the neural electrical signals.The mechanism of the acupuncture manipulations will be further elucidated. |
