Acupuncture therapy is one of the original innovations in traditional Chinese medicine. The study of acupuncture has gradually advanced towards the world since 1970s. In these years the most important events might be the influence of acupuncture anesthesia, the attention of the World Health Organization, the establishment and development of the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies, and the consensus development conference on acupuncture held by the National Institutes of Health in America, and so on. The reasons why acupuncture is accepted by the world are both the convinced curative effects and the scientific foundations, due to the great efforts of medical stuff in China guided by the principle of integration of traditional Chinese and western medicine. This article poses several proposals about further extending the influence of acupuncture. In brief, acupuncture research is one of the few fields that authentically impact the western scientific technology. It is of very important responsibility in the new century to impulse the acupuncture study to further progress and expand the international influence of acupuncture.

Purpose　To observe the changes of dynorphin-like immunoreactivities of neurons in some rat brain nuclei that are related to analgesia following exogenous administration of melatonin.　Methods　The experimental rats were divided into two groups, injected intraperitoneally with melatonin 110 mg/kg and with vehicle, respectively. One hour after the injection, the rat brain was processed for coronal sections. The sections were stained with immunohistochemical ABC technique. The integral optical density (IOD) of the stained section was measured by the computer-assisted image processing technique.　Results　Dynorphin-like immunoreactivities in the supraoptic nucleus and nucleus raphe dorsalis showed obvious reduction following the single injection of melatonin.IOD values in the above nuclei were decreased significantly (P<0.01) with the melatonin treatment. In the paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus, periaqueductal gray and nucleus raphe magnus, there was no difference (P>0.05) about the IOD values between melatonin-treated group and vehicle-treated group.　Conclusions　Melatonin may result in the decrease of dynorphin content in the supraoptic nucleus and nucleus raphe dorsalis.

Objective: According to the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the effect of cervical stimulation on autonomic nervous system activity in humans was investigated.Methods: Healthy young male volunteers were selected as subjects of the trial. The upper cervical spine (C2-5) was stimulated bilaterally with spinal manipulation, and changes in heart rate and heart rate variability were calculated as measures of effects on autonomic nervous system tone. Results: Thirty healthy young male volunteers were tested. It was found that heart rate decreased (R-R interval prolonged) significantly. SDNN and total power spectrum increased significantly, indicating an increase in sympathetic tone. Conclusion: Cervical manipulation can regulate the autonomic nervous system tone in healthy young men, and it suggests a possibility of treating cardiovascular diseases such as arrhythmia with cervical manipulation.

Objective: The present study was to observe the expression of COX-2 protein in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord in rats with chronic inflammatory pain to investigate whether COX-2 is involved in the mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) analgesia. Methods: After EA treatment, the pain score and expression of COX-2 protein in the dorsal horn of spinal cord in rats with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis were measured by the behavioral test and immunohistochemistry technique, and compared with those of the normal group, model group and medicine group. Results: EA could decrease the pain score significantly and repeated EA treatments had the remarkable cumulative analgesic effect; and with the increase in EA treatments, the number of COX-2 immunoreactive cells was obviously decreased. Conclusion:EA at acupoints Yanglingquan (GB 34) and Kunlun (BL 60) had remarkable analgesic effect on adjuvant arthritis rats; and in the meantime, could inhibit the expression of COX-2 protein in the dorsal horn of spinal cord.