In the present paper

the authors review progresses of researches on the protective effect of acupuncture in resisting acute myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in patients and animals from 1) resisting injury of oxygen-derived free radicals

2) reducing intracellular Ca2+ overload

3) relieving dysfunction of vascular endothelial cells of the myocardium

4) regulating immune functional activity and reducing inflammatory injury

5) reducing cardiocyte apoptosis

6) upregulating the expression of heat shock protein(HSP 70) in the myocardium

and 7) regulating activities of multiple cardiovascular protection factors and intracellular signaling pathways.The abovementioned results are mainly obtained from experimental animal studies.For this reason

the authors hold that the coming researches on acupuncture therapy for cardiovascular disorders should pay more attention to its clinical application

for example

controlled blood-pressure decline induced lower perfusion of the coronary artery

cardiac surgery(percutaneous tranluminal coronary angioplasty

intracardiac operation underdirect vision) etc.