Study progress on the mechanism of acupuncture for primary dysmenorrhea针刺治疗原发性痛经作用机制研究进展

Through searching the literature on the mechanism of acupuncture for primary dysmenorrhea in the last 15 years, this paper summarizes systematically the current study progress on the analgesic mechanism of acupuncture for primary dysmenorrhea, from the perspectives of animal experiment and human trials. In terms of research methods, the behavioral observation, evaluation of central and peripheral biochemical indexes, and molecular biological techniques were mainly used in the animal experiments; whilst the clinical symptoms and evaluation of peripheral serum biochemical indexes were focused on in human trials. As for the research results, the animal experiments showed that acupuncture may play an analgesic role by regulating endocrine, promoting the release of central and peripheral neurotransmitters, regulating immune function, and relieving uterine smooth muscle spasm. However, the human trials have found that acupuncture can produce analgesic effects by regulating serum prostaglandin and ovarian hormone levels, promoting the release of peripheral β-endorphin, improving the uterine artery flow status, and relieving uterine smooth muscle spasm. Although different research methods were used in animal and human studies, the similar results were obtained in acupuncture regulating endocrine levels, promoting release of peripheral neurotransmitters, and alleviating uterine smooth muscle spasms. In addition, at present stage, animal experiments are more than human trials in numbers, and there are relatively few studies on the central mechanism of acupuncture analgesia in human trials. Therefore, in view of this phenomenon, this paper proposes to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology to explore the central mechanism of acupuncture analgesia in human body, so as to provide a new idea for further exploring the mechanism of acupuncture analgesia in treating primary dysmenorrhea.