Objective: To probe into the underlying mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) for simple obesity patients.
Methods: Sixty simple obesity patients were randomly divided into control, manual acupuncture (MA) and EA groups with 20 cases in each group. Acupoint groups (1) Liangqiu (ST 34), Xuehai (SP 10), etc.; (2) Gongsun (SP 4), Neiting (ST 44), etc. were punctured respectively for MA groups (once every other day, 27 times altogether), and in combination with EA (2-5 mA, 0.8-3 Hz, 30 min) of bilateral Tianshu (ST 25), Fujie (SP 14), etc. for EA group. Serum leptin (Lep) and adiponectin (Adi) were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).
Results: After the treatment, of the 20 cases in control, MA and EA groups, 0 (0%), 0(0%) and 4 (20. 0%) were cured; 0 (0%), 10 (50.0%) and 14 (70.0%) were improved remarkably; 1 (5.0%), 7 (35.0%) and 1 (5.0%) were effective; 19 (95.0%), 3 (15.0%) and 1 (5.0%) failed, with the effective rates being 5.0%, 85.0% and 95.0% separately. The therapeutic effects of both MA and EA groups were significantly higher than that of control group (P < 0.01). After the treatment, serum Lep levels in both MA and EA groups decreased significantly, and serum Adi contents of these two groups increased considerably compared with their own basic values of pre-treatment (P < 0.05, 0.01), and the effects of EA were markedly better than those of MA and control groups (P < 0.05). No significant changes were found in Lep and Adi levels in control group (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: Both EA and manual acupuncture can effectively lower blood Lep content and raise blood Adi in simple obesity patients, which may contribute to its effect in reducing body. weight. The effect of EA is significantly superior t o that of manual acupuncture in the treatment of simple obesity.