Brain research bulletin
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Purinergic signaling has recently been suggested to constitute the cellular mechanism underlying acupuncture-induced analgesia (AA). By extending the original hypothesis on endogenous opioids being released during AA, Geoffrey Burnstock and Maiken Nedergaard supplied evidence for the involvement of purinoceptors (P2 and P1/A1 receptors) in the beneficial effects of AA. ⋯ Because clinical studies on AA yielded sometimes heterogeneous results, it is of eminent importance to relay on experiments carried out on laboratory animals, by evaluating the data with stringent statistical methods including comparison with a sufficient number of control groups. In this review, we summarize the state of the art situation with respect to the participation of P2 receptors in AA and try to forecast how the field is likely to move forward in the future.