Ipsi- and Contralateral Moxibustion Generate Similar Analgesic Effect on Inflammatory Pain

الملخص EN

The aim of this study was to investigate whether contralateral moxibustion would generate a similar analgesic effect with ipsilateral moxibustion.

Contra- and ipsilateral moxibustion were separately applied to Zusanli (ST36) acupoints of inflammatory pain mice.

The analgesic effect was evaluated, respectively, by licking/biting time (LBT) of formalin-induced inflammatory pain and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) of complete Freund’s adjuvant- (CFA-) induced inflammatory pain.

For formalin-induced pain, compared with formalin group, the total LBT of ipsi- and contralateral moxibustion reduced in both phase I and phase II, but there was no significant difference between ipsi- and contralateral moxibustion.

For CFA-induced inflammatory pain, compared with CFA group, TWL of ipsi- and contra-Moxi groups increased immediately after moxibustion intervention; however there was no obvious difference between ipsi- and contralateral moxibustion at any timepoint.

It indicated that contralateral moxibustion had a similar analgesic effect with ipsilateral moxibustion in both formalin- and CFA-induced pain.

These results suggest that both ipsi- and contralateral moxibustion could be applied for pain relief.