Acupuncture has recently been attracting more and more people throughout the world as an alternative treatment, however little is known about its physiological activities (i.e. immune system). We examined acupuncture both quantitatively and qualitatively by measuring CD-positive cell counts and cytokine expression levels in the blood, to determine the activity of T cells, B cells, macrophages and natural killer (NK) cells. Fifteen milliliters of peripheral blood obtained from 17 healthy volunteers aged 21–51 years, were analyzed using flow cytometry before and after acupuncture treatment. There was a statistically significant increase in the number of CD2+, CD4+, CD8+, CD11b+, CD16+, CD19+, CD56+ cells as well as IL-4, IL-1β and IFN-γ levels in the cells after acupuncture stimulation of meridian points. These observations indicate that acupuncture may regulate the immune system and promote the activities of humoral and cellular immunity as well as NK cell activity. In this article, we discussed how acupuncture regulated leukocyte numbers and functions since they are considered to be potential indicators for evaluating complementary and alternative medicine.

According to the reports from Ministry of Health in each country, the average life span is elongated over the past decade. This trend is expected to be keeping constant further in the future and at the same time continued efforts should be made. Next, it is necessary for us to consent about improving the quality of life. In an effort of improving the quality of life, other than the western medicine, we have attempted to introduce many traditional medical practices, including the oriental medicine, from various parts of the world into the medical field as a complementary & alternative medicine (CAM). Judging both positive and negative aspects by the evaluation standard of the Western medicine, we try to obtain numerical aspects in termed of QOL. Some methods of alternative medicine involved in this review are acupuncture, moxibustion, TCM and other traditional medicine. Above all, WHO suggests selecting the suzerain nation of acupuncture moxibustion, which has been developed in the oriental countries as a specialized cure, by identifying merits & demerits and ascertaining which nation can be a the best model for special field. At the moment for evaluating CAM, for example, what kind of methods is/are suitable for evaluating each CAM. We have been trying to propose the peripheral leukocyte, that is one of the best marker for evaluating CAM. Our trial is a hot spring hydrotherapy, acupuncture and moxibution, light exercise and Ondle/floor heating etc. In these trials, we find the common results from leukocyte effects which exhibit a strong correlation for the regulation in number and function, as a new scale for evaluating QOL. The contents are the result from the data showing the much in number of volunteer tend to down regulate, on the other hand, lower number of volunteer is up-regulated at next day by each menu of CAM as a constitution dependent manner. However, even in western medical methodology, double blind and cross over system are the better way to evaluation even in CAM. The responsibility in human to each CAM therapy is different in individually, so to say according to constitution. In other words, there are so many vectors within the group, including at least three * Corresponding author. N. Yamaguchi et al. 148groups, up-regulating, down regulating and stand stilled one. So we have no positive results by the method by sum-up and made mean. According to this system, individual vector is cancelled each other and real effect is not exhibited as a final result. So, we would like to present more smart way to access the efficacy for CAM menu. That is trial to plot each individual effect on the linear function and making slant/co-efficiency that plot each variable vector which is derived from the relative value compared to that of the day before. This procedure is easy to compare between each impact to the volunteer. We would like to propose this evaluation system as Super Constitution System: SCS. This kind of regulation showed within a 24 hours, for the leukocyte subsets, granulocyte and lymphocyte...

Acupuncture therapy had established in China and it distributed among Asian countries and developed in each country as traditional medicine. In this project we compared the procedures and effects of traditional acupuncture therapies in China, Korea and Japan by using 10 healthy young male volunteers with written informed consent. Total white cell counts, leukocyte subsets and noradrenalin contents were used as outcomes. Three well trained traditional acupuncture therapists were chosen and they treated the same subjects at random order with intervals of at least two months. Each acupuncturist made his diagnosis and points selection for potentiate vital conditions. Clearly different procedures and point selections were used among three traditional acupuncture therapies on the same subject and the obtained changes of outcome measures also differed. Although variations of data were quite large, these results clearly demonstrated that acupuncture therapies have developed among three countries in unique manner.

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