A leukaemia drug may be able to give a dramatic boost to the effects of acupuncture, researchers revealed last night.
The discovery is linked to scientific findings about acupuncture – long dismissed in the West.
Scientists at the University of Rochester, Minnesota, USA, say the key is a molecule called adenosine, which plays a key role in sleep, in heart health and in reducing inflammation.
Scientists say the chemical becomes active in the skin after injury, working as a pain-killer – but it also active in the deeper tissues reached by acupuncture needles.
The findings were reported last night in the journal Nature Neuroscience. More details are to be revealed at a scientific conference in Barcelona, Spain, this week.
The laboratory studies on mice suggest a drug called deoxycoformycin can treble the effects of acupuncture. The drug prevents tissue removing adenosine and tests suggested that taking it before acupuncture could treble the length of time for which acupuncture is effective.
Researcher Dr Maiken Nedergaard said: "Acupuncture has been a mainstay of medical treatment in certain parts of the world for 4,000 years, but because it has not been understood completely, many people have remained sceptical.
"The new findings add to the scientific heft underlying acupuncture."
Dr Josephine Briggs, director of the US National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, said: "This carefully performed study identifies adenosine as a new player in the process. It’s an interesting contribution to our growing understanding of the complex intervention which is acupuncture."
Nature Neuroscience May 30 2010
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