Professor GAO Yuchun is considered as the key successor of GAO's academic school of acupuncture and moxibustion in Yanzhao region. Professor GAO's clinical experience of, "sequential acupuncture" is introduced in details in this article. In Professor GAO's opinions, appropriate acupuncture sequence is the key to satisfactory clinical effects during treatment. Based on different acupoints, sequential acupuncture can achieve the aim of qi following needles and needles leading qi; based on different symptoms, sequential acupuncture can regulate qi movement; based on different body positions, sequential acupuncture can harmonize qi-blood and reinforcing deficiency and reducing excess. In all, according to the differences of disease condition and constitution, based on the accurate acupoint selection and appropriate manipulation, it is essential to capture the nature of diseases and make the order of acupuncture, which can achieve the aim of regulating qi movement and reinforcing deficiency and reducing excess.
Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; history ; methods ; China ; History, 20th Century ; History, 21st Century ; Humans ; Needles ; Qi ; history

BACKGROUND: D-galactose-induced aging animal model is similar tohuman natural aging. Whether the expression of protein phosphatase-1(PP-1) in the brain of D-galactose-induced aging mice is related to cerebralaging process or not should be researched further. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of the APP17 peptide and theliquid extract ofjiunao yizhi capsule on regulating the expression of PP-1 inhippocampal neurons of the aging mice induced by the D-galactose (D-gal). DESIGN: A random controlled study. SETTING: Department of Pathology, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital University of Medical Sciences and Beijing Research Laboratory forBrain Aging, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital University of Medical Sciences. MATERIALS: The study was completed between July 2003 and July2004 in the Experimental Center of Capital University of Medical Sciences. Forty male Kunming mice (SPF grade) with a body mass fron 28 g to 32 gwere purchased from Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Institute ofMaterial Medical.METHODS: Kunming mice were randomly divided into 5 groups: control group, D-gal group, APP17 peptide treatment group, low dose herb treatment group, and high dose herb treatment group with 8 mice in each group. In Dgal group, APP17 peptide treatment group, low dose herb treatment group and high dose herb treatment group, galactose was injected subcutaneously (50 nmg/kg). Meanwhile, 0.1 mL normal saline containing 0.35 μg of APP17 peptide was injected subcutaneously into the mice in APP17 peptide treatment group, once a day for 3 months; liquid extract of jiunao yizhi capsule (provided by Beijing Chaoyangmen Hospital and Shanxi Quwo Traditional Medical Institute; the main component: dangshen, baizhu, guijia and chuanshanjia, etc.) was perfused by stomach (0.3 g/kg and 1.0 g/kg respectively) in low dose herb treatment group and high dose herb treatment group, once a day. And equivalent normal saline was injected and perfused in the two control groups. After 3 months of survival, the mice were killed and their brains were cut into sections. The immunohistochemical staining of these sections was then performed with PP-1 antibody.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The results of immunohistochemical staining analysis of PP-1.RESULTS: Forty mice entered the final analysis without any loss. PP-1 positive cells in the hippocampus were poorly stained in the D-gal mice. In contrast, PP-1 positive neurons were widely distributed in the hippocampus of those normal mice, the APP17 peptide-treated D-gal mice and the high liquid extract of raw herb-treated D-gal mice. These cells were darkly stained in cytoplasm. The unexpected result was that in the low liquid extract of raw herb-treated D-gal mice the number of PP-1 positive neurons did not increase to normal.CONCLUSION: The results demonstrated that the expression of PP-1 decreased in the hippocampus of D-gal mice. The APP17 and low dose liquid extract of raw herbs can regulate the distribution of PP-1 in the brain of D-gal mice and make them recover to normal situation.

BACKGROUND: In brain insulin does its work through the insulin receptor substrate (IRS). Amyloid beta protein precursor 17 (APP17) peptide has the neurotrophic function, which may improve diabetic encephalopathy resulted from insulin deficiency by affecting insulin receptor substrate.OBJECTIVE: The mouse diabetic model was produced to observe the effect of APP17 peptide on the distribution of IRS-1 in brain tissues.DESIGN: Randomized control animal experiment.SETTING: Staff Room of Pathology, College of Basic Medical Sciences,Capital University of Medical Sciences; Beijing Research Laboratory for Brain Aging of Xuanwu Hospital.MATERIALS: The experiment was performed in Staff Room of Pathology,College of Basic Medical Sciences, Capital University of Medical Sciences and Beijing Research Laboratory for Brain Aging of Xuanwu Hospital from September to October 2003. Totally 18 male kunming mice were employed,and randomly assigned into control group, diabetic group and APP17 peptide treatment group with 6 mice in each group.METHODS: ①The mice were subjected to intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (STZ, Sigma) by 200 mg/kg, and 3 days later, the tail blood was sampled to examine non-fasting blood glucose, and the blood glucose over 15 mmol/L was set as the criteria for successful diabetic model establishment. ②In APP17 + diabetes mellitus group, the mice received subcutaneous injection of 0.35 μg APP17 peptide once daily for 2 weeks. The mice in the normal control group were not interfered. ③Then brain was removed and crystat sections were prepared. Immunohistochemical staining was done for IRS-1 at four weeks after giving streptozotocin.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pattern and distribution of IRS-1 positive cells of mice in each group.RESULTS: Totally 18 mice were involved in the result analysis. ①In the brains of diabetic mice the IRS-1 immunohistochemical positive cells distributed at cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus and so on, while the positive cells distributed only at cortex and hippocampus in the normal control group and APP17 peptide treatment group, lightly stained. ②Numbers of immunohistochemical positive cells of IRS-1 of cerebral hippocampus in the diabetic group, normal control group and APP17 peptide treatment group were (28.7±1.5), (9.2±1.5), (10.1±1.4) piece per 10 power object lens, and that in the diabetic group was higher than that in the other two groups (P ＜ 0. 001 ). CONCLUSION: Neurons in many regions of brains of diabetic mice have plenty of IRS-1 positive cells. APP17 peptide can make part and quantity of IRS-1 positive cells normality so as to ameliorate the degeneration of hippocampal neurons of diabetic mice.

Objective To observe effects of auricular-point plaster therapy on children simple obesity.Methods A total of 97 children of simple obesity were treated with auricular-point plaster.Body mass index was measured before and after the treatment.Therapeutic effects and positive changes of auricle were also observed.ResultsBody mass index decreased significantly(P＜0.01)after the treatment as compared to the pre-treatment(t=3.142,P＜0.01).Positive changes of auricle reduced.Auricular-point plaster showed therapeutic effects on obesity in different extents.Conclusion Auricular-point plaster was effective in treating children with simple obesity.

Objective To investigate the changes of follicular regulatory T cells ( Tfr cells) and follicular T helper cells ( Tfh cells) in peripheral blood of children with myasthenia gravis ( MG) . Methods We recruited 28 MG patients and 20 healthy subjects in this study. The percentages of Tfh and Tfr cells in peripheral blood samples were measured by flow cytometry. Real-time PCR was performed to detect the ex-pression of transcription factors and regulatory factors of Bcl-6, c-MAF, Blimp-1 and PD-1 at mRNA level. ELISA was used to detect the levels of IL-2, IL-6, IL-10 and IL-21 in plasma samples and the titers of Ach-Rab and PsMab. Results Compared with the healthy subjects, the MG patients showed higher percentages of Tfh cells and lower percentages of Tfr cells before receiving treatment. The expression of Bcl-6 and c-MAF on CD4+T lymphocytes cells at transcriptional level were significantly enhanced, while the expression of Blimp-1 on CD4+T cells and the expression of PD-1 on Treg cells at transcriptional level were inhibited in the MG patients in comparison with those in healthy subjects. Moreover, decreased levels of IL-2 and increased levels of IL-21 were found in plasma samples collected from the MG patients. Conclusion The decreased percentages of Tfr cells and increased percentages of Tfh cells in patients with MG resulted in abnormal ratios of Tfr/Tfh cells, which might be involved in the immunological pathogenesis of MG. Several changes in the patients with MG might be responsible for the imbalanced ratio of Tfr/Tfh cells, which included changes of IL-2 and IL-21 in microenvironment, enhanced expression of Bcl-6 and c-MAF at mRNA level and inhibited expression of Blimp-1 at mRNA level on CD4+T cells as well as over-expression of PD-1 at mRNA level on Treg cells.

Objective To investigate the effect of insulin signaling pathway on neuronal survival and the effect of the peptide App17 on regulating the expression of some apoptosis-related proteins in neurons of the hippocampus through intracerebrorentricular injection of streptozotocin in rats. Methods The rats were injected with App17 peptide subcutaneously three weeks after the model group was established by intracerebrorentricular injection of streptozotocin.After the four-week treament,the expressions of the apoptosis-related proteins,such as Bcl-2,Bax,CytoC in neurons of the hippocampus were tested with immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting.Results Bax,CytoC positive neurons were widely distributed in the hippocampus of the model group,and the cytoplasm was darkly stained.In contrast,the positive neurons for Bax,CytoC in hippocampus were poorly stained in the control group and the treated group,and appeared significant difference in cell counting as compared with model group.Bcl-2 positive neurons were widely distributed in the hippocampus in the control group and the treated group,and the cytoplasm was darkly stained while its positive neurons were poorly stained in the model group,and appeared significant difference in cell counting as compared with the model group.From the Western blotting clear bars could be seen in the three groups and there was a significant difference between them.Conclusions The expression of Bax,CytoC increased in the hippocampus in the rats with intracerebrorentricular injection of streptozotocin while the expression of Bcl-2 decreased.The App17 peptide could promote the rehabilitation of the abnormal expression of the three proteins to some extent.The insulin signaling pathway could affect the survival of the neurons in rats' hippocampus.

As one of the important founders of GAO's acupuncture academic school in YanZhao area, Professor GAO Yuchun 's experience of acupuncture for headache is summarized in this paper. In the opinion of Professor GAO, the treatment of headache should focus on eliminating evil and relieving pain, and the syndrome differentiation should be based on meridian differentiation, especially on three yang meridians of foot as well as liver meridian and kidney meridian. In the acupoint prescription, attention should be placed on strengthening the spleen and stomach. The midnight-midday ebb flow acupuncture is advocated. The combination between acupuncture order and movement of qi is emphasized. In the manipulation, the role of pressing hand, the stimulation during reinforcing and reducing methods, and needle-retention time are important. The breathing reinforcing and reducing method of acupuncture are also advocated.
Acupuncture Points ; Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Female ; Headache ; therapy ; Humans ; Meridians ; Middle Aged

Objectives To investigate the clinical effect of hemoperfusion in severe juvenile dermatomyositis. Meth-ods Two patients with severe juvenile dermatomyositis, who accepted hemoperfusion treatment, were retrospectively analyzed. Results In these 2 patients, the hemoperfusion process were smooth. The muscle pain was reduced and the muscle enzymes were decreased. After hemoperfusion, one patient refused to continue treatment and the disease recurrent. The other patient con-tinued to accept the immunosuppressive therapy and eventually improved. Conclusions For juvenile dermatomyositis, hemo-perfusion was a safe and effective auxiliary treatment. It could be applied when the general treatment was invalid.

Objective Shunaoxin Dropping Pills (SDPs), a Chinese patent medicine, has been used widely in China for the treatment of headache, amnesia, and insomnia. The aim of the present study is to observe the effect of SDPs on inducing angiogenesis and neurogenesis in vitro. Methods The present testing system using the serum obtained from animals ig treated with SDPs and a co-culture system in vitro was used to investigate if SDPs promotes brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) tube formation and neural differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs), which plays important roles in angiogenesis and neurogenesis. Results The SDPs serum sampled from rats ig treated with SDPs for 3 d dose-dependently promoted the tube like structure formation of cultured BMECs, and enhanced the fraction of MAP-2 positive cells of NSPCs, which co-cultured with the BMECs and astrocyte. In addition, there was no significant change in the percentage of glial fibrillary acidic protein positive cells. Conclusion Our results show that SDPs serum can induce neural differentiation and BMECs tube formation in vitro.

objective To analyze the causes of defective nonunion of femoral shaft and to evaluate interlocking intramedullary nails in treatment of shortened limb deformity following nonunion of femoral shaft. Methods 12 patients with shortened limb deformity following nonunion of femoral shaft were treated with autograft of ilium to fill up the defects and fixation by interlocking intramedullary nails. The patients were followed up for an average of 20 months. Results All the 12 patients healed by first intention after an average of 22 months. The limbs were lengthened averagely by 3.2cm. No failure occurred due to bent or broken major nails or intramedullary nails. Conclusions The main cause of shortened limb deformity following femoral shaft nonunion is bone resorption due to unreliable fixation. Interlocking intramedullary nails are an ideal device for shortened limb deformity following femoral shaft nonunion, though the union process is slow. In bone graft, care should be taken to avoid the complication of bone defect and weight bearing should be carried out some time later.