How Does Moxibustion Possibly Work?

Table 1

Effects of LSTS on peripheral acupoints on visceral functions of the corresponding organs.

Acupoints	Visceral functions	Mechanisms		References
		Regulatory molecules	Serum
GB 24	Motility of SO ↓	NO ↑		Chiu et al., 1998 [28]
BL 40 and BL 36	Motility of anal sphincter ↓	NO ↑		Jiang et al., 1999 [29]; Jiang et al., 2000 [30]
LR 14	Protects the liver from subsequent I/R injury	HSP70 ↑	I/R + LSTS versus I/R : ALT ↓; LSTS versus normal : ALT ↑; I/R + LSTS versus I/R : AST ↓; LSTS versus normal : AST ↑	Lin et al., 2001 [31]
PC 6	Protects the heart from subsequent I/R injury	HSP70 ↑	I/R + LSTS versus I/R : CPK ↓; I/R + LSTS versus I/R : CK-MB ↓	Chiu et al., 2003 [32]; Tsou et al., 2004 [33]
BL 37	Protects the muscles; from tourniquet-induced neuromuscular injury	ROS ↑; HSP70 ↑	I/R + LSTS versus I/R : CK-MM ↓; LSTS versus normal : CK-MM ↑	Pan et al., 2008 [34]; Pan et al., 2012 [35]

SO: sphincter of Oddi; NO: nitric oxide; HSP70: heat shock protein 70; LSTS: local somatothermal stimulation; I/R: ischemia-reperfusion; ROS: reactive oxygen species; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; AST: aspartate aminotransferase; CPK: creatine phosphokinase; CK-MB: creatinine kinase-MB isoenzyme; CK-MM: creatine kinase-MM isoenzyme. Reference number is between square brackets.