Medical Research
Bee Venom and the Anti-inflammatory Response
Kristen Sparrow • March 21, 2015
The article below.is related to the previous blog post about vagal stimulation leading to decreased inflammation. The use of bee venom may be a more elegant and cheaper solution. Probably why it won’t gain much industry interest. I would love to be able to study this technique in conjunction with HRV.
Toxins (Basel). 2015 Mar 13;7(3):846-58. doi: 10.3390/toxins7030846.
The Effects of Bee Venom Acupuncture on the Central Nervous System and Muscle in an Animal hSOD1G93A Mutant.
Cai M1, Choi SM2, Yang EJ3.
Abstract
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is caused by the degeneration of lower and upper motor neurons, leading to muscle paralysis and respiratory failure. However, there is no effective drug or therapy to treat ALS. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), including acupuncture, pharmacopuncture, herbal medicine, and massage is popular due to the significant limitations of conventional therapy. Bee venom acupuncture (BVA), also known as one of pharmacopunctures, has been used in Oriental medicine to treat inflammatory diseases. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of BVA on the central nervous system (CNS) and muscle in symptomatic hSOD1G93A transgenic mice, an animal model of ALS. Our findings show that BVA at ST36 enhanced motor function and decreased motor neuron death in the spinal cord compared to that observed in hSOD1G93A transgenic mice injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) with BV. Furthermore, BV treatment at ST36 eliminated signaling downstream of inflammatory proteins such as TLR4 in the spinal cords of symptomatic hSOD1G93A transgenic mice. However, i.p. treatment with BV reduced the levels of TNF-α and Bcl-2 expression in the muscle hSOD1G93A transgenic mice. Taken together, our findings suggest that BV pharmacopuncture into certain acupoints may act as a chemical stimulant to activate those acupoints and subsequently engage the endogenous immune modulatory system in the CNS in an animal model of ALS.
Full text here
“We found that BV treatment significantly improved walking function compared to BV-i.p.-injected hSOD1G93A mice and age-matched hSOD1G93A mice treated with saline acupuncture at ST36. In addition, BVA at ST36 reduced the levels of neuroinflammatory proteins such as Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), CD14, and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) in the spinal cord compared with saline acupuncture at ST36-treated hSOD1G93A mice, but BV-i.p. injection in symptomatic hSOD1G93A mice did not. Furthermore, we detected that the nuclear abnormality in the quadriceps femoris muscle was significantly reduced by BVA compared with saline acupuncture at ST36 in ALS mice but was not affected by i.p. injection of BV in hSOD1G93A mice. These findings suggest that BVA at ST36 can be more effective than either ST36 stimulation or BV injection alone in reducing neuroinflammation in the spinal cord of hSOD1G93A transgenic mice. – See more at: http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/7/3/846/htm#sthash.6moAlEWQ.dpuf”
Full text here
“We found that BV treatment significantly improved walking function compared to BV-i.p.-injected hSOD1G93A mice and age-matched hSOD1G93A mice treated with saline acupuncture at ST36. In addition, BVA at ST36 reduced the levels of neuroinflammatory proteins such as Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), CD14, and Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) in the spinal cord compared with saline acupuncture at ST36-treated hSOD1G93A mice, but BV-i.p. injection in symptomatic hSOD1G93A mice did not. Furthermore, we detected that the nuclear abnormality in the quadriceps femoris muscle was significantly reduced by BVA compared with saline acupuncture at ST36 in ALS mice but was not affected by i.p. injection of BV in hSOD1G93A mice. These findings suggest that BVA at ST36 can be more effective than either ST36 stimulation or BV injection alone in reducing neuroinflammation in the spinal cord of hSOD1G93A transgenic mice. – See more at: http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/7/3/846/htm#sthash.6moAlEWQ.dpuf”
