足三里穴常用于针麻手术和治疗胃肠道疾病。中医认为该穴既有健脾胃作用也有调补气血的作用。早在五十年代和六十年代初期

国内临床针刺治疗实践中表明

针刺一定穴位对心血管活动具有调整作用。Lee M.O.等曾报道在氟烷浅麻醉下

针刺狗“足三里”穴后

每搏输出量和心输出量减少而外周阻力增加

但平均动脉压却无影响。林树新等报道电针“足三里”穴对This experiment was carried out on 47 rabbits anesthesized with uret- han. It had been observed that needling with electrostimulation at "Zusa- nli" of the animals gave rise to prnmpt and obvious lowering of blood pr- essure

which was in strong contrast to that at random points other than Stomach Channel

where almost no changes of blood pressure could be eli- cited

indicating that the effect was relatively specific. The depressor re- sponse was found to be very much attenuated or totally eliminated after severing of sciatic nerve. So the nerve was the main afferent pathway. No influence of the response was further found after section of depressor ne- rve

carotid sinus nerve or cervical vagus

and there was no change of he- art rate comig along with blood pressure lowering. The results showed that the transient but obvious depressor effect after needling with electro- stimulation at "Zusanli" in anesthesized rabbits might be the effect of inhi- bition of sympathetic vasoconstriction activity giving rise to lowering of peripheral resistance.