Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Adrenergic Nerve Fibers - The Chief Factor Affecting The Changes Of Electric Resistance Of The Rabbit Pinna In Experimental Peptic Ulcer

Morphology Unit, Research Group of Acupuncture Anesthesia, Beijing Medical College

The Channel theory of the Channels and Collaterals of the traditional Chinese medicine considers the Channels as passages connecting the internal visceral organs with the appendages, sense organs, body orifices, vascular and muscular organs, skin and hair into an integral organism. This association between the superficial parts of the body and viscera is proved to be real in existence by animal experiments in our laboratory. During experimental peritonitis, peptic ulcer and infarct of the heart, the low electrical resistance points (LERP) of rabbits' pinna change with the course of these diseases, increasing in number during the disease and returning to normal or disappearing when the animals have recovered.


Twenty rabbits, divided into 4 groups, with excision of different nerve supplies to the right ear or the right common carotid artery, were induced to develop peptic ulcer by means of injection of 40% acetic acid to the submucosa of stomach. During the period of peptic ulcer, only the group of animals with the excision of superior cervical sympathetic ganglion, all the sensory nerves to the right ear and a segment of right common carotid artery showed a conspicuous reduction of the number of LERP on the concave surface of the right ear. Histochemical examination of the innervation of the right ear has found almost entirely disappearance of the adrenergic nerves, and the presence of acetylcholinesterase-positive nerves in various amounts but apparently reduced in the right ear. Animals of other groups, with partial denervation of the right ear or excision of the right common carotid artery, showed no significant difference in the number of LERP appearing on the affected ear as compared with the normal left during peptic ulcer. And the same is true in the distribution of the adrenergic nerve fibers on both ears, while the AChE-positive nerve fibers showed various degrees of reduction or no difference. The results of the survey of the electric resistance and histochemical studies indicate that the presence of the adrenergic nerve fibers is closely related to the appearance of LERP on the rabbit ears during peptic ulcer. The theory of the Channels and Collaterals of the traditional Chinese medicine considers that: "the twelve Channels are internally attributed to viscera an externally associated to appendges". In our experiments, after complete disappearance of the adrenergic nerve fibers of the right ear, the number of LERP appeared on the right ear reduced about one half of that of the left during peptic ulcer; while these nerves were intact, the right ear was able to reflect the disease normally. The sympathetic nerves is one of the chief factors in the association of the viscera with the superficial parts of the body and in this particular case, the peptic ulcer in stomach with ear skin. This association is realized by a visceral regulatory system in the organism which activity is concretely represented by the frequency curve of the daily appearance of LERP on the pinna during peptic ulcer and it fits well to the theme of the classical concept of Channels and Collaterals.




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