Objectives The objective of this study was to contribute to the development of pharmacupuncture for obesity treatment by reviewing the studies of pharmacupuncture experimentations and clinical trials.
Methods We searched the papers with keywords of 'obesity' and 'pharmacupuncture' in the search site, RISS, Oriental medicine advanced searching integrated system(OASIS), Korean traditional knowledge portal, the society of Korean medicine for obesity research, Korean pharmacupuncture institute, the Korean academy of oriental rehabitation medicine and Korean acupuncture & moxibustion society.
Results 1. We reviewed 37 articles searched. 27 articles(73.0%) were animal experimentations, 5 articles(13.5%) were cell experimentations, 4articles(10.8%) were clinical trials and 1 article(2.7%) was study analysis.
2. The herbs, using for animal experimentations, were atratylodes japonica, coix lachrymajobi, ephedra sinica, crataegus pinnatifida, wild ginseng and etc. Acupucture points were joksamni(ST36), zhongwan(CV12), gansoo(BL18), pungnyung(ST40), umnungchon(SP9),bisu(BL20), gokji (LI11), cheun-chu(ST25) and etc.
3. For cell experimentations, preadipocytes and adipocytes performed on cell cultures with using rats, 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and porcine skin including fat tissue were treated with fel ursi, bovis calculus, ephedrae herba, spirodelae herba, wild ginseng.
4. For clinical trials, Sangsik no.1, Bigiheo, ephedra, green tea and sweet bee venom were injected at the region where a lot of fat like zhongwan(CV12), xiawan(CV10), kwanwon(CV4), cheun-chu(ST25) and thigh.
Conclusion Through animal and cell experimentations and clinical trials, the treatment of obesity using local acupuncture therapy was effective. For clinical use, however, it is considered that animal and cell experimentation and clinical trial’s connection using one kind of herb and studies about more clinical trials and associated side effects are needed.