Inhibitory regulation of blood pressure by manual acupuncture in the anesthetized rat

Effect of manual acupuncture (twisting; lifting and thrusting; combination of them) at acupoints Nei-guan (PL-6) in the fore limb and Zu-san-li (ST-36) in the hind limb on mean arterial blood pressure was investigated in anesthetized rats. During acupuncture treatment mean arterial blood pressure was decreased but fluctuated in intact rats, intensively decreased after vagotomy and completely abolished after spinalization. The depressor response was significantly higher with combination treatment than others at PL-6, rather than at ST-36. Results suggest that manual acupuncture at either PL-6 or ST-36 can reduce blood pressure in anesthetized rats, and its modulatory site might be supraspinal.