TY - JOUR
T1 - Acupuncture and the opioid system
T2 - Implications in management of migraine
AU - Pintov, Shai
AU - Lahat, Eli
AU - Alstein, Miriam
AU - Vogel, Zvi
AU - Barg, Jacob
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the National Institute of Drug Abuse, NIH, Bethesda, MD, the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation, and the Israel Cancer Research Fund. Z.V. is the incumbent of the Ruth and Leonard Simon Professional Chair in Cancer Research.
PY - 1997/9
Y1 - 1997/9
N2 - We investigated the effectiveness of acupuncture in childhood migraine in 22 children with migraine, randomly divided into two groups: a true acupuncture group (12 children) and a placebo acupuncture group (10 children). Ten healthy children served as a control group. Opioid activity in blood plasma was assayed by two methods: (1) determination of total (panopioid) activity with an opiate radioreceptor assay, and (2) determination of β-endorphinlike immunoreactivity by radioimmunoassay. The true acupuncture treatment led to significant clinical reduction in both migraine frequency and intensity. At the beginning of the study, significantly greater panopioid activity was evident in plasma of the control group than in plasma of the migraine group. The true acupuncture group showed a gradual increase in the panopioid activity in plasma, which correlated with the clinical improvement. After the tenth treatment, the values of opioid activity of the true acupuncture group were similar to those of the control group, whereas the plasma of the placebo acupuncture group exhibited insignificant changes in plasma panopioid activity. In addition, a significant increase in β-endorphin levels was observed in the migraine patients who were treated in the true acupuncture group as compared with the values before treatment or with the values of the placebo acupuncture group. The results suggest that acupuncture may be an effective treatment in children with migraine headaches and that it leads to an increase in activity of the opioidergic system.
AB - We investigated the effectiveness of acupuncture in childhood migraine in 22 children with migraine, randomly divided into two groups: a true acupuncture group (12 children) and a placebo acupuncture group (10 children). Ten healthy children served as a control group. Opioid activity in blood plasma was assayed by two methods: (1) determination of total (panopioid) activity with an opiate radioreceptor assay, and (2) determination of β-endorphinlike immunoreactivity by radioimmunoassay. The true acupuncture treatment led to significant clinical reduction in both migraine frequency and intensity. At the beginning of the study, significantly greater panopioid activity was evident in plasma of the control group than in plasma of the migraine group. The true acupuncture group showed a gradual increase in the panopioid activity in plasma, which correlated with the clinical improvement. After the tenth treatment, the values of opioid activity of the true acupuncture group were similar to those of the control group, whereas the plasma of the placebo acupuncture group exhibited insignificant changes in plasma panopioid activity. In addition, a significant increase in β-endorphin levels was observed in the migraine patients who were treated in the true acupuncture group as compared with the values before treatment or with the values of the placebo acupuncture group. The results suggest that acupuncture may be an effective treatment in children with migraine headaches and that it leads to an increase in activity of the opioidergic system.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0030725095&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0887-8994(97)00086-6
DO - 10.1016/S0887-8994(97)00086-6
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:0030725095
SN - 0887-8994
VL - 17
SP - 129
EP - 133
JO - Pediatric Neurology
JF - Pediatric Neurology
IS - 2
ER -