[Observation on the effect of acupuncture of "Wuyi" (ST 15) and multiple acupoints on the size of lacteal gland in rats with cyclomastopathy].
OBJECTIVE
To compare the therapeutic effects of acupuncture of "Wuyi" (ST 15) and multi-acupoints for hyperplasia of mammary glands so as to choose the key acupoints for cyclomastopathy.


METHODS
A total of 48 FEMALE Wistar rats were randomized into normal control, model, "Wuyi" (ST 15) and multi-point groups with 12 cases in each group. Cyclomastopathy model was established by intraperitoneal injection of benzestrofol (0.5 mg/kg per day) for 25 days. followed by administration of flavolutan (4 mg/kg per day, i.p.) for 5 days. Bilateral ST15 were punctured and stimulated manually for ST15 group; while for multi-point group, bilateral ST15, "Hegu" (LI 4), "Zusanli" (ST 36) and "Shanzhong" (CV 17) were punctured, once daily, 27 sessions altogether. After decapitation, the rats' second pairs of mammary glands were removed to be fixed routinely, embedded in paraffin, sectioned (5 microm), and stained with H & E method for observing the structural changes under microscope and with norphometry.


RESULTS
Compared with control group, the diameter and area of acinar lumina (AL) of mammary glands in model group increased significantly (P < 0.01), whereas those in both ST15 and multi-point groups were significantly lower than those 2 indexes in model group (P < 0.01). No significant differences were found between ST15 and multi-point groups in the diameter and area of AL.


CONCLUSIONS
"Wuyi" (ST 15) can effectively suppress estrogenic hormones-induced hyperplasia of mammary glands and is thus a key acupoint for treatment of cyclomastopathy.
Xiu
He-ming
HM
Bethune Internalional Peace Hospital, Shijiazhuang 050082, China.
Liu
Ii-jun
IJ
Liu
Yan-qing
YQ
D015669:Acupuncture Points; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006965:Hyperplasia; D008321:Mammary Glands, Animal / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar