Washington, Aug 12 (IANS) Researchers have come up with evidence that acupuncture affects the brain’s long-term ability to regulate pain.
Researchers at the University of Michigan (U-M) Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Centre showed acupuncture increased the binding availability of mu-opoid receptors (MOR) in regions of the brain that process and dampen pain signals - specifically the cingulate, insula, caudate, thalamus and amygdala.

Opiod painkillers, such as morphine, codeine and other medications, are thought to work by binding to these opioid receptors in the brain and spinal cord.

“The increased binding availability of these receptors was associated with reductions in pain,” said Richard E. Harris, researcher and assistant professor of anesthesiology at the U-M.

One implication of this research is that patients with chronic pain treated with acupuncture might be more responsive to opioid medications since the receptors seem to have more binding availability, Harris said.

These findings could spur a new direction in the field of acupuncture research following recent controversy over large studies showing that sham acupuncture is as effective as real acupuncture in reducing chronic pain.

“Interestingly both acupuncture and sham acupuncture groups had similar reductions in clinical pain,” Harris said. “But the mechanisms leading to pain relief are distinctly different.”

The study participants included 20 women who had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, for at least a year.

The results appeared online ahead of print in the September issue of the Journal of NeuroImage.