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Acupuncture for the Treatment of Drug Addiction

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Abstract

Over the last three decades there has been an increasing interest in acupuncture treatment of substance abuse around the world. Three important steps can be identified in this field. Dr. Wen of Hong Kong was the first (1972) to report that acupuncture at 4 body points and 2 ear points combined with electrical stimulation can relieve opioid withdrawal signs in the addicts. The second major step was made by Dr. M. Smith in New York, the head of the National Acupuncture Detoxification Association (NADA) of the USA, who finalized a protocol (1985), using only ear points without electrical stimulation for the treatment of drug abuse. The recent advance in this field was made by Dr. Han of the Peking University, Beijing, who characterized a protocol (2005), using electrical stimulation of identified frequencies on body points to ameliorate heroin withdrawal signs and prevent relapse of heroin use. In this review, the efficacy of acupuncture and related techniques for the treatment of drug dependence in experimental settings and clinical practice will be reviewed, and the possible mechanisms underlying this effect be discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Basic Research Program (G1999054000, 2003CB515407) and National Natural Science Foundation (30170814, 30370466 and 30770690) of China and NIH (P01 AT 002038), USA. We sincerely thank Professor JS Han for his critical review and in-depth comments in preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Research Institute, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Cai-Lian Cui, Liu-Zhen Wu & Fei Luo

  2. Department of Neurobiology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Cai-Lian Cui, Liu-Zhen Wu & Fei Luo

  3. Key Lab for Neuroscience, The Ministry of Education, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Cai-Lian Cui, Liu-Zhen Wu & Fei Luo

  4. Key Lab for Neuroscience, The Ministry of Public Health, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing, 100083, People’s Republic of China

    Cai-Lian Cui, Liu-Zhen Wu & Fei Luo

  5. Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Fei Luo

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  1. Cai-Lian Cui
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  2. Liu-Zhen Wu
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  3. Fei Luo
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Correspondence to Cai-Lian Cui.

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Special issue article in honor of Dr. Ji-Sheng Han.

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Cui, CL., Wu, LZ. & Luo, F. Acupuncture for the Treatment of Drug Addiction. Neurochem Res 33, 2013–2022 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11064-008-9784-8

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