Acupuncture has been used in China for over 3000 years.  But it was until the 1960s’ that people began to investigate its working mechanism. A large number of biological scientists were involved in a likely "political movement" research to explore the mechanism of acupuncture analgesia. During the so-called“culture revolution” period, even though almost all the academic researches and normal school activities had been suspended in China, the research in acupuncture was never affected. Humans, large and small animals became the subjects of different acupuncture experimental protocols. A broad range of acupuncture areas had been studied including the exploration of the essentials of meridian and channels, the anatomy of acupoint, the physiology and neurotransmitter regulation, the paired relation between the acupoint with the internal organs,the speciality of acupoint and its clinical applications, the best protocols for acupoint combination,  etc, which, as a result, provided the basis for today's study in acupuncture.

Acupuncture got attention in American in 1970s along with President Richard Nixon’s visit to China and James Reston’s report of his own experience of acupuncture treat-ment for his  post-surgery pain after acute appendicitis operation. In the science field, Dr. David Meyer, a  professor in Department of Anesthesiology, Medical College of Virginia, first demonstrated the involvement of opioid substances in mediating acupuncture analgesia in humans in 1973. Dr. Bruce Pomeranz first demonstrated the same phenomenon in mice,and also proved that the analgesia effect of acupuncture was reversed by the opioid receptor blocker naloxone. A series of work by Dr. Jisheng Han, et al, laid basis for unveiling the mystery of acupuncture treatment of pain.

However, there are many more conditions other than pain that can be treated by acupuncture, researches in these areas are emerging now. One example is  the research led by Dr. Stener-Victorin E's in University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Her team have made tremendous contribution in elucidating the mechanism of electroacupunctre in the treatment of polycystic ovary syndrome. However,  we still need some more time to fully understand the whole profile that how and why acupuncture works and get final conclusions of its working mechan-ism.

Meanwhile, clinical use of acupuncture is booming all over the world and it is said that in America more than 8 million people have used acupuncture. In 1997 in the NIH consensus panel concluded that “Acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention is widely practiced in the United States. While there have been many studies of its potential usefulness, many of these studies provide equivocal results because of design, sample size, and other factors. The issue is further complicated by inherent difficulties in the use of appropriate controls, such as placebos and sham acupuncture groups. However, promising results have emerged, for example, showing efficacy of acupuncture in adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in postoperative dental pain. There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma, in which acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful”.

Reference:

1. Han JS (Ed): <Neurochemical Basis of Pain Relief by Acupuncture>. Vol.1, 1987; Vol 2, 1998; Vol 3, 2008.
2. Han JS. Acupuncture research is part of my life. Pain Medicine 2009; 10(4): 611-618.
3. Han JS, and Terenius L. Neurochemical Basis of Acupuncture Analgesia. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology 1982; Vol. 22: 193-220
4. Han JS, Terenius L. Neurochemical basis of acupuncture analgesia. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology. 1982; 22: 193-220
5. Han JS. A mesolimbic neuronal loop of analgesia. Advances in Pain Research and Therapy 1987; 10:219-243
6. Han JS. The role of CCK in electroacupouncture analgesia and electroacupuncture tolerance. In: Multiple CCK Receptors in CNS (Dourish CT, et al., Eds) Oxford, New York, 1992, pp 480-502
7. Han JS. Acupuncture activates endogenous system of analgesia. “NIH Consensus Development Conference on Acupuncture”, sponsored by Office of Alternative Medicine and Office of Medical Application of Research, Nov 3-5, 1997, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA, pp55-60
8. Ulett G, Han S, Han JS. Electroacupuncture: mechanisms and clinical application. Biol Psychiatry. 1998 Jul 15;44(2):129-38.
9. Mayer DJ. Acupuncture: an evidence-based review of clinical literature. Annu Rev. Med. 2000:51:49-63
10. Richard Hammerschlag,, et al. Randomized Controlled Trials of Acupuncture (1997–2007): An Assessment of Reporting Quality with a CONSORT- and STRICTA-Based Instrument. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2011;2011. pii: 183910. Epub 2010 Oct 3
11. Feng Y, Johansson J, Shao R, Mannerås L, Fernandez-Rodriguez J, Billig H, Stener-Victorin E Hypothalamic neuroendocrine functions in rats with dihydrotestosterone-induced polycystic ovary syndrome: effects of low-frequency electro-acupuncture. PLoS One. 2009 Aug 14;4(8):e6638