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RE: Chinese Pseudoscience #1: Acupuncture 针刺 - Part 2: Research
"Acupuncture" is known to cause a release of adenosine:
https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.2562
However this rant is pretty convincing that sticking a needle anywhere does do that meaning that the specifics of acupuncture are irrelevant.
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/another-overhyped-acupuncture-study-misinterpreted/
It is likely that getting poked with needed does something beyond placebo. However that something, probably isn't very much. And has nothing to do with the specific needling spots of acupuncture.
In all, a well written post about a junk health treatment.
Oh so you DO read my stuff! haha
The first study you cited is on mice, so let's not take that too seriously when it comes to discussing how much pain they were in 'as revealed by how quickly they recoiled from heat and touch' - after being injected with extra-heat-touch sensitivity drugs.
Additionally: 'when adenosine was turned on in mouse tissue by other mechanisms, the pain response was equal to or better than the response generated by acupuncture.' You could just pinch somebody and get the same results. Acupuncture having any effect there is purely circumstantial, in the same way that it might relieve somebody's itchy back or burst a big spot.
That being said, yes there are some individual studies that show something - regarding the stabbing of skin rather than actual acupuncture, but again the differences are barely clinically significant, as mentioned, around 10 points on a 100 point scale in most cases, or as mentioned, simpler and cheaper alternative methods often prove superior.
I read everyone's stuff some of the time. ;) I don't comment often. It's just a time constraint thing.
I wouldn't worry about the mouses pain response, only that adenosine was released. That's the interesting observation. The activation of the A3 adenosine receptor is thought to be involved in the human pain response as well (there are a variety of publications discussing this).
At this point I think the more interesting avenue of study is the stimulation of that adenosine pathway. Acupuncture is largely forgettable.
Yep, if it can replace the opioid as a leading pain relief then nothing but goodness has come from those little critters!
Time, and a significant amount of research will tell if those dreams can come true.