内源性鸦片样物质(OLS)在针刺镇痛过程中起着十分重要的作用。我们实验室曾用放射受体分析法(RRA)测定大鼠电针镇痛时脑和垂体OLS的含量变化

发现电针镇痛效果与脑内OLS的含量呈正相关。但是体内的OLS系由脑啡肽、β-内啡The β-endorphin content of the whole brain and pituitary of the normal rat as measured by radioimmunoassay (RIA) was found to be 8.9±3.0pg/mg (n = 9) and 5.7 ± 1.2ng/mg (n=11) respectively. In order to evaluate the relationship between cerebral β-endorphin and the effectiveness of acupuncture analgesia (AA)

a total of 31 rats were divided into 3 groups of 9-11 rats according to the analgesic effect elicited by electroacupuncture (EA) stimulation as poor

medium and good responders and decapitated immediately after the EA stimulation for RIA of β-endorphin. Taking the β-endorphin content in mormal control rats as 100%

the cerebral content in the 3 EA stimulated groups was 198

370 and 1074% respectively. The results indicated that the stronger the analgesic effect

the higher the β-endorphin content in the brain. In the pituitary gland

a significant incresse (+110%) of β-endorphin content was found only in the good responder group

whereas in poor and medium responder groups a tendency of decrease by 50% was observed

although these changes were statistically not significant. A correlative change between the cerebral and pituitary content of β-endorphin and the effectiveness of AA provided a new evidence for the participation of β-endorphin in the mediation of AA.