Ipsi-And Contralateral Moxibustion Generate Similar Analgesic Effect on Inflammatory Pain

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate whether contralateral moxibustion would generate a similar analgesic effect with ipsilateral moxibustion. Contra-and ipsilateral moxibustion were separately applied to Zusanli (ST36) acupoints of inflammatory pain mice. The analgesic effect was evaluated, respectively, by licking/biting time (LBT) of formalin-induced inflammatory pain and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) of complete Freund's adjuvant-(CFA-) induced inflammatory pain. For formalin-induced pain, compared with formalin group, the total LBT of ipsi-and contralateral moxibustion reduced in both phase I and phase II, but there was no significant difference between ipsi-and contralateral moxibustion. For CFA-induced inflammatory pain, compared with CFA group, TWL of ipsi-and contra-Moxi groups increased immediately after moxibustion intervention; however there was no obvious difference between ipsi-and contralateral moxibustion at any timepoint. It indicated that contralateral moxibustion had a similar analgesic effect with ipsilateral moxibustion in both formalin-and CFA-induced pain. These results suggest that both ipsi-and contralateral moxibustion could be applied for pain relief.