MEDICAL ACUPUNCTURE
Volume 21, Number 4, 2009
# Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.
DOI: 10.1089=acu.2009.2001
The Future of Integrating Acupuncture
and Modern Biomedical Science
Charles Shang, MD
I n the past 20 years, basic acupuncture research has
emerged from infancy, plagued by descriptive, retro-
spective mindsets and arbitrary animal models with little
relevance to clinical practice,1 into a truly integrative dis-
cipline with significant foresight and insight, capable of
predicting results years ahead of actual experiments in both
acupuncture and conventional biomedical sciences,2 and
meeting the gold standard of science. It is leading to the
understanding of the growth control system, which is em-
bedded in function-based physiological systems and there-
fore often overlooked, but is increasingly clear to be an
important foundation of pathophysiology.
This system is not just an aggregate of cells and mole-
cules, but also an intricate web of morphogen gradient field
intertwined with bioelectric field involving singular points
and separatrices (boundaries).3 This web originates from
a network of organizers in embryogenesis and develops
into the Meridian system.2 The significance of this system
would be no less than that of immune or circulatory systems.
Based on the growth model backed by increasing evidence,
acupuncture and related techniques can be beneficial as
disease-modifying therapy in treating many inflammatory
and degenerative disorders beyond relieving pain, nausea,
and vomiting.
Acupuncture has been shown to regulate nerve growth
factor,4,5 insulinlike growth factor 1,6 platelet-derived growth
factor,7 vascular endothelial growth factor, angiogenesis,8
and improve bone density,9,10 neuroplasticity (as in the
healing of spinal cord injury),6 and stimulate stem cell pro-
liferation.11 Acupuncture shows promise in ameliorating and
preventing osteoporosis,9,12 obesity,13 diabetes,14 polycystic
ovary syndrome,5 stroke,8 sepsis,15 and other conditions.
Acupuncture can be superior and complementary to other
modalities such as physiotherapy16 and pharmacotherapy.
However, perhaps enthusiasm should be checked with the
understanding that acupuncture is most cost-effective for
prevention and early treatment, unlike some conventional
Editor’s Note: We welcome and encourage your Guest Editorials. Please submit to our Managing Editor at rosalynr@aol.com.
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treatments such as aspirin and statin drugs, which are most
effective in treating patients with advanced disease. As
predicted, acupuncture effect has been shown to be in-
versely correlated to the disease chronicity, severity, and
patient’s age.17 In this age of improving cost-effectiveness
of healthcare, focusing on efficient point selection (using
relatively few acupoints in each treatment), and efficient
modality (e.g., transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimula-
tion instead of manual needling) will be important. It is
likely that using too many acupoints in the treatment group
has contributed to the mediocre results that are indistin-
guishable from those of sham groups in clinical trials.2
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No competing financial interests exist.
REFERENCES
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treatment of the sound-perceiving nerve deafness and tinnitus
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Charles Shang, MD
Department of Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX 77030
3400 Edloe Street #1706
Houston, TX 77027
E-mail: cshang@bcm.tmc.edu