5-羟色胺(5-HT)

是体内一种具有广泛生理功能的活性物质。中枢神经内的5-HT 参与针刺镇痛

已有不少报导。但在外周5-HT 则是受人重视的一种具有强烈致痛作用的物质

针刺对外周5-HT 作用的研究尚少。为此

我们曾In previous clinical studies

we found that in patients with excellent acupuncture anesthetic effectplasma free serotonin (5-HT) level during operation was lower than in patients with poor effects.Inthe present study the changes of 5-HT content in the whole blood of 53 dogs during subtotal gastrec-tomy under acupuncture anesthesia have been determined by spectrophotofluorometric assay.The results showed that the increase rate of 5-HT in animals with poor anesthetic effects during operation washigher than that in those with excellent anesthetic effects.This result may be related to the increasedstorage and decreased release of 5-HT in APUD cells as well as in platelets.It has been suggested thatthe above changes reflect one aspect of the acupuncture regulatory functions.