Acupuncture, HRV and Insomnia

Another HRV study by Litscher and his team in China. A previous post, "Part I" described HRV analysis in rats for seizures. This article explores acupuncture in patients with insomnia. Unfortunately they don't report on how the patients' insomnia symptoms responded(?) There is a link to the full paper here. At the end of the journal article in the discussion they say

The significance of our data indicates that maybe differences exist between those patients who respond to acupuncture insomnia therapy and those that do not. Further research into the use of electrocardiogram and other physiological parameters to stratify response to acupuncture therapeutic interventions is warranted.

This is exactly the point of my own research; to try to better guide treatment by adding HRV outcomes to symptomatic outcomes. Litscher merely mentions this as a possibility, but does not reveal how his data might show this.
He also says in the article that he chose to do single point acupuncture (Heart 7),unusual in clinical practice, so that he would have a point of comparison for future studies with single point auricular acupuncture.
One final point is that he found no change in LFR/HFR ratio during acupuncture, which is counter to my own findings and those of Backer, but consistent with those of Huang. As always, "more study needed."
More on my practice here.

Sino-European transcontinental basic and clinical high-tech acupuncture studies-part 2: acute stimulation effects on heart rate and its variability in patients with insomnia.
Litscher G, Cheng G, Cheng W, Wang L, Niu Q, Feng X, Gaischek I, Kuang H. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012;2012:916085. Epub 2012 Mar 4.

Research Unit of Biomedical Engineering in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine and Stronach Research Unit for Complementary and Integrative Laser Medicine, TCM Research Center Graz, Medical University of Graz, 8036 Graz, Austria.

This second part of a series of Sino-European high-tech acupuncture studies describes the first clinical transcontinental teleacupuncture measurements in patients with insomnia. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) measurements in 28 patients (mean age ± SD: 41.9 ± 14.6 years) were performed under standardized conditions in Harbin, China, and the data analysis was performed in Graz, Austria. Similar to the first part of the series, the electrocardiograms (ECGs) were recorded by an HRV Medilog AR12 system during acupuncture of the Shenmen point (HT7) on the left hand. HR decreased significantly (P < 0.001) during and after acupuncture stimulation of the HT7 acupuncture point. Total HRV increased significantly (P < 0.05) immediately after acupuncture stimulation, but there was no long-lasting effect. The values of the low-frequency (LF) and high-frequency (HF) band increased significantly after the stimulation compared to baseline values; however, the LF/HF ratio showed no significant changes. Together with the results of previous studies, the present results can serve as a solid basis for further development of acupressure or acupuncture stimulation equipment for complementary use in treating insomnia.

HRV and Auricular Acupuncture in Rats

(info on my practice here.)

This is another Litscher study, full text article for free here. He has done a series of articles on HRV and acupuncture which we have discussed here, here, here, and here. This one is the first to use animal data. It’s a combined Chinese/Austrian study in that the studies are done in China and then the data transmitted to Austria and analysed. At least that is my understanding of his work. In this study, the decrease in LFR/HFR with stimulation at St36 was corroborated, albeit in rats. An overall increase in HRV was found only in ear acupuncture. ( It is amazing to me that they could even distinguish various acupunpoints on a tiny rat ear, but that was the protocol. They used the heart point, in case you’re interested.) We discussed stimulation of Stomach 36 and its effect on autonomic balance here, and here

Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2012;2012:817378. Epub 2012 Feb 21.
Sino-European transcontinental basic and clinical high-tech acupuncture studies-part 1: auricular acupuncture increases heart rate variability in anesthetized rats.
Gao XY, Liu K, Zhu B, Litscher G.
Source

Department of Physiology, Institute of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Dongzhimen Nanxiaojie Street, Beijing 100700, China.
Abstract

Evidence-based research concerning the effects of high-tech acupuncture on autonomic function was performed by two research teams from China and Austria. This study describes the first transcontinental teleacupuncture measurements in animals. Heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV) recordings in 10 male Sprague-Dawley anesthetized rats were performed under stable conditions in Beijing, China, and the data analysis was completed in Graz, Austria. The electrocardiograms (ECGs) were recorded by an HRV Medilog AR12 system during acupuncture of the ear and body (PC6 Neiguan, CV12 Zhongwan, ST36 Zusanli). The data were analyzed using specially adapted novel Austrian software. HR did not change significantly during any acupuncture stimulation in anesthetized rats (ear acupuncture, PC6, CV12, or ST36). Total HRV only changed significantly (P = 0.025) during auricular acupuncture (acupoint heart). The low-frequency/high-frequency ratio parameter decreased significantly (P = 0.03) during stimulation of ST36. This change was based on intensification of the related mechanism of blood pressure regulation that has been demonstrated in previous studies in humans. Modernization of acupuncture research

HRV in Post Stroke Patients Teleacupuncture Analysis

This study is from the same group I've linked to and discussed here, here and here. This is Part 1, so I'll be looking forward to their further studies coming up. There is the added advantage that you can view the entire journal article online.
What they found is that using acupuncture on one single point, pericardium 5, on one side lowered increased HRV. (For further information about my practice and research .)

Results. Acupuncture does not change heart rate in the post-stroke patients; however, total HRV increased significantly (P < .05) during and 5–10 minutes after acupuncture. In addition, balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic activity (low frequency/high frequency HRV ratio) changes markedly during treatment. Conclusions. Based on innovative HRV analysis, it could be demonstrated that teleacupuncture between China/Harbin and Austria/Graz over a distance of about 8,500 km is no longer a future vision; it has become reality."