Auricular acupuncture is a method which has been successfully used in various fields of medicine especially in the treatment of pain relief. The introduction of lasers especially low-level lasers into medicine brought besides the already existing stimulation with needles and electricity an additional technique to auricular acupuncture. This literature research looks at the historical background, the development and the anatomical and neurological aspects of auricular acupuncture in general and auricular laser acupuncture in detail. Preliminary scientific findings on auricular acupuncture with laser have been described in detail and discussed critically in this review article. The results of the studies have shown evidence of the effect of auricular laser acupuncture. However, a comparison of these studies was impossible due to their different study designs. The most important technical as well as study parameters were described in detail in order to give more sufficient evidence and to improve the quality of future studies.

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Aims and Objectives: The autonomic nervous system plays an important role in homeostasis and organismic recreation, control of immune function, inflammation, and bone growth. It also regulates blood pressure and orthostasis via vagal and sympathetic pathways. Besides recording of heart rate variability (HRV), which characterizes medium (1–5 min) and long term (circadian) autonomic tone or modulation, no gentle tests of short-term autonomic reactivity and control are available. In 1976 Nogier described a short time cardiovascular response (“Réflexe Auriculo Cardiaque”, RAC) which could be used to investigate short term autonomic reactions without changing system characteristics and thus being repeatable in short intervals. In this paper, we investigated the possible application of the Nogier reaction as a micro-test for the identification of a disturbed sensitivity or reactivity of the autonomic nervous system.Methods: We statistically analyzed cardiovascular signals derived during the application of small repeated stimuli utilizing methods of signal averaging to characterize the physiological background. Specifically, the Nogier reaction was investigated using simultaneous recordings of ECG, pulse waves, and respiration.Results: Significant fast (delay 1–5 s) and slower (delay 6–12 s) cardio-autonomic responses to different stimuli which characterize short term were observed. From time characteristics and type of signals where they occur we deduce that fast changes observed in heart rate are vagal reactions to the small stimuli whereas slower changes observed in pulse waves stem from sympathetic nervous system responses.Conclusions: The investigated autonomic micro-test opens the possibility to differentially investigate both limbs of the autonomic nervous system with minimal stimuli. It can be performed within seconds and does not change the set point of the system in opposition to less subtle tests such as Valsalva maneuver. Therefore, it is well-suited for quick, repeated measurements of autonomic nervous system reactivity.

Background: The use of transcranial laser or light-emitting diode (LED) therapy in the treatment of different neurological diseases is attracting increasing attention. The main goal of this study was to investigate different kinds of scientifically and commercially available laser (yellow, red, and infrared) and LED stimulation systems for the first time using a chick embryo model under a fixed human cadaver (scalp and/or skull) and without this anatomical preparation. Methods: In the present study, the extra-embryonic vasculature of a 1-week-old chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) was investigated. For stimulation, four different systems were used (infrared LED and yellow, red, and infrared laser). Four measurement periods were compared: before stimulation, immediately after stimulation onset, immediately after the 10-min stimulation was turned off, and 6 min after stimulation had ended. Special image processing programs developed at the Beijing University of Science and Technology were used for data analysis. Results: The different kinds of laser induced different effects, e.g. the direct stimulation with yellow laser led to initial vasoconstriction (-17%), whereas yellow laser stimulation through a human skull resulted in an increase in blood volume. These effects could only be observed after mathematical processing of the images. Conclusion: After intensive basic research (e.g. CAM model), transcranial laser stimulation may open up new therapies for lifestyle-related diseases such as stroke, dementia, Alzheimer's or possibly Parkinson's disease.