Application
of acupuncture on the study of bone metabolism
Atsushi Takeda*, Kaori
Tano*, Shigeru Urata*, Hiroyuki Nakazawa*,
Xiaoming Wang*, Torao
Ishida*,**, Fumio Nasu*
Department of
Acupuncture Medicine,
Institute of
Traditional Chinese Medicine,
We investigated the effect of
acupuncture on bone metabolism of the senescence-accelerated mouse (SAMP6) as
model of senile osteoporosis and ovariectomized (OVX) rats as model of
postmenopausal osteoporosis. SAMP6 mice at the age of 9 weeks were subjected to
acupuncture at the acupoins of hind legs. Female rats (9 weeks old) were
ovariectomized, then they were subjected to acupuncture at the acupoints of
back from 11 weeks old. The bone mineral density of SAMP6 mice and OVX rats
significantly increased after acupuncture stimulation for more than 2 months.
The results showed that acupuncture could influences on the bone metabolism,
suggesting therapeutic possibility of acupuncture on osteoporosis.