A sustained, non-insulin related, hypoglycaemic effect of electroacupuncture in diabetic Psammomys obesus.
OBJECTIVE
Electroacupuncture has been shown to induce a short-term hypoglycaemic effect in streptozotocin diabetic rats. We designed an experiment to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture in Psammomys obesus, a model of insulin resistance and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.


METHODS
We divided 29 diabetic Psammomys randomly into three groups: abdominal electroacupuncture (real, n = 11), back electroacupuncture (placebo, n = 9) and control (anaesthesia, n = 9). Electroacupuncture was carried out on days 1, 3 and 5 of the experiment. During the first week of the experiment, blood glucose was tested three times on treatment days and once on the following days. Over the next 2 weeks, blood glucose was tested every other day. Animals were weighed at the same time of blood sampling. After 3 weeks, at the end of the experiment, blood was drawn for measurement of insulin, fructosamine, cholesterol and triglycerides.


RESULTS
At day 5 (end of intervention), blood glucose (as per cent of primary concentrations, means +/- SE) was 57 +/- 10, 93 +/- 13 and 89 +/- 11 for the real, placebo and control groups respectively (p = 0.02). At day 8, blood glucose 68 +/- 14, 86 +/- 16 and 97 +/- 9 for the real, placebo and control groups respectively (p = 0.04). At day 22, blood glucose was 79 +/- 11, 85 +/- 15 and 131 +/- 2 for the real, placebo and control groups (p = 0.04). Comparison of the decline in blood glucose, throughout the 3 weeks, between the real and placebo groups by ANOVA was highly significant (p < 0.0001), the difference between the placebo and control groups at the same time was not significant (p > 0.05). Animal weight gain, serum insulin, fructosamine, cholesterol and triglycerides were not significantly different between real and placebo groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Electroacupuncture at special abdominal acupoints induces a sustained hypoglycaemic effect in diabetic Psammomys compared with electroacupuncture at non-specific points, without weight loss. No hypoinsulinaemic effect was shown in the real and placebo groups.
Shapira
M Y
MY
Division of Internal Medicine, Hadassah University Hospital, Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel.
Appelbaum
E Y
EY
Hirshberg
B
B
Mizrahi
Y
Y
Bar-On
H
H
Ziv
E
E
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D019270:Fructosamine / Q000097:blood; D005849:Gerbillinae; D007003:Hypoglycemia / Q000209:etiology*; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D013997:Time Factors; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D014280:Triglycerides; D019270:Fructosamine; D002784:Cholesterol