Antihistamine promotes electroacupuncture analgesia in healthy human subjects: A pilot study

10.1016/j.jtcme.2022.04.003

Yu-Chen Lee；Cheng-Hao Tu；Hsin-Yi Chung；Sih-Ting Luo；Yu-Ting Chu；Iona J. MacDonald；Peddanna Kotha；Chien-Chen Huang；Hsien-Yuan Lane；Jaung-Geng Lin；Yi-Hung Chen

Pain threshold ； Electroacupuncture ； H_1 receptor antagonists ； Dexchlorpheniramine ； Pilot study

Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine

12卷5期（2022 / 09 / 01）

511 - 517

英文

Background and aim: We have previously reported that histamine H_1 receptor antagonists facilitate electroacupuncture (EA) analgesia in experimental animals. In this pilot study, we sought to determine whether the histamine H_1 receptor antagonist dexchlorpheniramine (DCPA) facilitates EA analgesia in healthy human subjects. Experimental procedure: Forty healthy subjects aged 20-30 years were randomly allocated to 1 of 4 groups: (1) sham EA at acupoints Zusanli (ST36) and Yanglingquan (GB34) (sham EA; n = 10); (2) EA at ST36 and GB34 (n = 10); (3) EA at ST36 and GB34 plus low-dose DCPA (2 mg, n = 10); (4) EA at ST36 and GB34 plus high-dose DCPA (4 mg, n = 10). Before and after acupuncture treatment, pain thresholds were determined by transcutaneous electrical stimuli on the glabrous skin of the left upper arm. Results: After the acupuncture session, subjects in the EA plus high-dose DCPA group had a significantly higher pain threshold elevation compared with the other 3 study groups. The change from baseline in pain threshold in the EA plus high-dose DCPA group was significantly greater than the change in pain threshold with EA only, indicating that DCPA 4 mg facilitated EA analgesia. Conclusion: The results suggest that combining H_1 receptor antagonist treatment with EA appears to relieve pain to a greater extent compared with EA alone. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (https://clinicaltrials.gov/), number NCT03805035 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03805035).

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