Effects of pretreatment with gold ion or coexistence of gold and silver ions on silver-induced contracture were studied to evaluate whether different uses of gold and silver needles in patients with rheumatoid arthritis are due to different actions of these heavy metals. Simultaneous application of 20μM gold ion and 5μM silver ion prolonged the time from ion application to tension development in single fibers of frog skeletal muscle 10 fold, compared with that observed upon silver ion alone. Such fibers showed no striation disorder. When 20μM gold ion was given to fibers immediately after development of silver-induced tention, the duration of a transient component of silver-contracture was shortened and a subsequent tonic contracture no longer observed. Delayed application of gold ion to fibers at which the tonic contracture is already appeared did not inhibit silver contracture. Even after pretreatment with gold, muscle fibers deteriorated upon silver application. These findings suggest that chemical interaction of both metal ions with membrane proteins is not simple, but depends on concentrations used, application order and time of gold application after exposure of fibers to silver.

A large number of minor elements consists in being with the metalloenzyme and are essential to activation and structural support of the enzyme.
It is well known that most of the metal ions are transitional and their functions are similar to enzymes and it displays higher catalysis connected with protein. Needles for acupuncture are made of transition metals.
We have insisted that it is indispensable for our study to understand actions of acupuncture in an organism to be caused by ionization of acupuncture components and to research its being form of metal ion in an organism from the viewpoint of physiological chemistry and biochemistry.
In this paper, we make a report of movements of Cation in the muscle and the skin induced by an Au-needle. We analyzed it by characteristic X-rays, NMR and ESR.
1. Being inserted the Au-needle in the muscle, it is able to lyse large PPM of ion.
2. The ion is transferred from the anode to the cathode of the Au-needle inserted in the muscle.
3. There are two different tissues successively in the muscle; one has the loci which Au-ion is easy to flow into and the other has the loci which the Au-ion is difficult to flow into.
4. The amount of ionization caused by ionization of the Au-needle did not follow the rule of Faraday's electrolysis.
5. A distributive equation of ion caused by ionization of the Au-needle is this;
I≈10.45(-X)^0.46
I=distributive amount of diffusion
X=distance from the punctured point
6. Diffusing speed (V) of the intramuscular Au-ion was this in average;
0.6 (mm/min)≤V≤0.9 (mm/min)
7. The intramuscular Au-ion must not really transfer each other for the various materials in the muscle. We were not able to find any Au (III).
8. The intramuscular ion must not have any asymmetrical electron.

Effects of external Ca²⁺ concentration, Ca²⁺ channel blockers and chemical modification of SH groups in membrane proteins on silver ion (Ag⁺)-induced contraction were studied with single fibers of frog toe muscle. In the presence of 3mM Ca²⁺, Ag⁺ produced phasic (P₁) and subsequent tonic (P₂) contractions. When Ca²⁺ were replaced by Mg²⁺, only P₁ occurred upon Ag⁺. This type of contraction was completely blocked by 10μM nifedipine. P₂ was inhibited by application of 10μM nifedipine or 3mM Cd²⁺. When exposed to 1mM dithiothreitol (DTT) during contraction, the fiber rapidly decreased the tension to the resting level and then tension no longer developed. The fiber pretreated with 0.1% H₂O₂ for 10min did not respond upon 10μM Ag⁺. In such a fiber, reduction of SH groups by 10mM DTT for 2min restored the responsiveness of the fiber to Ag⁺. Ag⁺-induced contraction was not observed after exposure of the fiber to 20mM Hg²⁺ for 30min. These findings suggest that Ag⁺ has 2 sites to induce different types of contraction and that oxidation of SH groups in Ca²⁺ channels participates in Ag⁺-induced contraction.

Effects of external Ca²⁺ depletion and chemical modification of SH groups in membrane protein on gold-induced contraction were studied to compare with those by silver ion with single toe muscle fiber of frog. Membrane potential and twitch tension were also measured after exposure of fibers to gold ion. In Ringer solution, gold produced phasic (P₁) and subsequent tonic (P₂) contractions. When Ca²⁺ was replaced by Mg²⁺, only P₁ was elicited upon gold. Application of 5mM DTT to contracting fibers led to disappear the gold-induced tension rapidly and exponentially. The fiber pretreated with 0.05% H₂O₂ for 10min responded to occur no gold contraction. In such fibers paralyzed by H₂O₂, cleavage of SS bonds by DTT restored the responsiveness of fibers to gold ions. Gold ions depolarized the muscle membrane, dose-dependently. Twitch tension was first potentiated upon gold application, and then disappeared. These results indicate that action of gold ion on skeletal muscle is similar to that of Ag⁺, but the ability of chemical modification of sulfhydryls by gold ion in situ is much lesser than that by Ag⁺.

In the acupuncture clinic the method of selecting treatment points by measuring the electrical resistance of the skin has been widely used. It has become known that depending on the measuring period and the loaded voltage, the low resistance points of the skin are easily created, thus there remain many problems of the methods for measuring the skin resistance.
The present study was performed on the forearm skin of human subjects. For the measuring electrode an Ag-AgCl wire electrode with a diameter of 0.5mm was used. The electrode was fixed up to a FD-pick up (Nihon Kohden) and monitoring the pressure applied to the skin. A metal rod wrapped in a piece of gauze soaked with saline solution was used as the indifferent electrode. The skin resistance was calculated by measuring the current pass the both electrodes with a fixed resistance (10KΩ) Placed in series in the circuit when a square pulse (10msec, 4V) was appqied to the skin.
By used of the spuare pulse the low resistance points of the skin are stably detected when they are measured repeatedly. On the other hand, by of -DC 10 Volt, tce low resistance points gradually increase in number and lowering the resistance value by repeated measurerents. The sweat glands and hair follicle also show the low resistance value.
In conclusion, we could not distinguish the “true” low resistance points from sweat gland and other resistance destroyed points by measuring current clearly. But the square pulse method for measuring the skin resistance is useful to detect the low resistance point.

The +2 ions in the extenal fluids of the cells touching the outer surface of the nerve membranes are indespensible to excitation; if a +1 ion is added, excitation becomes easy. In the inner fluids touching the inner walls of the membrane with the existence of +1 ions only there is no problem, but if a +2 ion happens to come to exist within these inner fluids generally, this results in a decrease in the active electrical potential.
Very little is known about the quantitative tendencies of trace metal elements (or ions) within the local domain of the human tissue however the verification of the amounts of VIa (Cr, Mo), VIIa (Mn), VIII (Fe, Co, Ni, Pt), Ib (Cu, Ag, Au) transition metal elements and IIb (Zn, Cd) among the heavy metal elements existing in the human body is a matter of great physiological and pathological importance.
We will report information concerning metals among heavy metals and the transition metals in which characteristic X-rays appeared notably in this experiment.
The results of this experiment indicate the following: (1) We can induce the equation of diffusion and distribution concerning to the ions of metal element introduced into the skin and the muscle. (2) The amount of ionization of metal elements introduced into the tissues is not abided by Farady's law of electrolysis. (3) In proportion as time of stimulation increases the amount of K-ions in the local domain punctured by Au-needle. (4) As the effect of metal element punctured and introduced into the tissues, the ions of the transition metal elements that were already existing in the tissues are acting in conjunction with the introduced element. (5) The cause of variation on the trace element is not analyzed in this experiment.