Clinical And Experimental Study On Electro-acupuncture In The Treatment Of Depression

Objective: To study the mechanism of electroacupuncture (EA) in the treatment of depression.Methods: Clinical study—54 cases with major depression were adopted in this study, 26 cases were in the EA group and 26 cases were in the control group. GV20 (Baihui) and Yingtang (Extra) were selected as the major acupuncture points. In addition to the major points, GB34 (Yanglingquan) and SP6 (Sanyinjiao) were selected for Liver and Spleen disharmony pattern; PC6 (Neiguan) and SP 6 (Sanyinjiao) were used for Heart and Spleen disharmony pattern; KI3 (Taixi) and SP 6 (Sanyinjiao) were selected for Liver and Kidney Yin deficiency pattern. After the needles are inserted and the Qi has arrived, the EA connected to the GV20 (Baihui) and Yingtang (Extra). There were three sections per week, 30 minutes per section, and 6 weeks as a period of treatment. Patients in the control group were administered 20mg fluoxetine daily for 6 weeks. Experiment study—32 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: Control group, Model group, EA group and Fluoxetine group. There were 8 rats in each group. All rats except the control group were singly housed and exposed chronically to a variety of mild unpredictable stressors for 21 days, and the rats of EA group were treated with electroacupuncture at the same time.Results: Clinical study—both EA and Fluoxetine were effective in the treatment of major depression. For relieving endogenous depression, Fluoxetine was better. The score on the syndrome of anxiety somatization (SAS) were significantly lower in EA group than the Fluoxetine group. The score on Asberg Rating Scale of Fluoxetine group was significantly higher than the EA group. Since Fluoxetine has more side effects than EA, therefore, the efficacy...