The present experiment aimed to determine what kinds of afferent nerve fibers in dorsal roots are stimulated during manual stimulation with an acupuncture needle by using single nerve unit recording techniques in bullfrogs. An acupuncture needle was inserted into a hind limb via the skin to the muscles, and was manually twisted right and left at a frequency of about 1Hz. Dorsal roots of the 8th and 9th spinal nerves were cut close to their entrance into the spinal cord and dissected to record single unitary afferent activity. The conduction velocity of the single nerve fiber was measured. A total of 30 units were successfully dissected, and all of those responded to manual twisting stimulation of the acupuncture needle in a hind limb. All of the dissected fibers had their receptive fields only at the unilateral side ipsilateral, to the recording site never contralateral. The conduction velocities of all 30 units ranged between 5.3 - 40.7 m/s. The reports by Erlanger et al.^{1, 2)} which showed the maximum conduction velocities of Aa, β, δand C afferent fibers in bullfregs to be about 48.2m/s, 28.7m/s, 13.6m/s and 0.7m/s, respectively, indicated that all 30 units dissected at the dorsal roots and responding to manual acupuncture stimulation were Aα, β, δ fibers. We could not record single nerve unitary activity of C fibers, probably because of technical difficulties. We conclude that manual acupuncture needle stimulation to the hind limbs excites single unitary afferent fibers of Aα, β, and δ fibers in the dorsal roots of bull frogs.

Review of the effects of acupuncture and moxibustion on brain function and cerebral disorders in human and animals was presented. Firstly, in basic research on experimental animals, the change of cerebral blood flow induced by acupuncture and its mechanisms had been reviewed. Nextly, the effect of acupuncture and moxibustion on human brain function that measured from fMRI, PET, magnetoencephalography (MEG), EEG (including event related potential) have documented in the review of basic research on humans. Finally, effectiveness of acupuncture and moxibustion on stroke was reviewed, and its possibility of QOL-improvement of the patients was discussed.

In the East, therapies such as acupuncture, moxibustion, and massage have been used to relieve pain and regulate the functions of internal organs. In these therapies, stimulation of the skin and muscles from the body surface excites somatic afferent fibers. This information is transmitted to the central nervous system, and reaches consciousness as sensations, influencing emotions and causing analgesic effects and visceral regulation via autonomic reflexes. This paper first briefly describes the characteristics of somatic-autonomic reflexes, and then introduces basic research conducted in the authors' laboratory on reflex responses to the autonomic nervous system, mainly using anesthetized animals. Finally, the authors present data from their recent olfactory research and discuss the clinical implications.