Research Article Intravenous Laser Blood Irradiation, Interstitial Laser Acupuncture, and Electroacupuncture in an Animal Experimental Setting: Preliminary Results from Heart Rate Variability and Electrocorticographic Recordings

Copyright © 2013 Wei He et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This is the first study to investigate intravenous (i.v.) laser blood irradiation, interstitial (i.st.) laser acupuncture, and electroacupunc-ture (EA) in combination with heart rate variability (HRV) and electrocorticogram.We investigated 10 male anesthetized Sprague-Dawley rats under the three conditions mentioned previously in Beijing, China, and data analysis was performed in Graz, Europe. For i.v. laser stimulation in the femoral vein and i.st. laser acupuncture at Neiguan (PC6), we used a European system (Modulas needle, Schwa-Medico, Germany; 658 nm, 50mW, continuous wave mode), and for EA at Neiguan, a Chinese system (Hanshi-100A; Nanjing Jisheng Medical Technology Company, China; 15Hz, 1mA). HR, HRV, and electrocorticogram were recorded using a biophysical amplifier AVB-10 (Nihon-Kohden, Japan). HR changed significantly during i.st. laser acupuncture stimulation of Neiguan in anesthetized rats. Total HRV increased insignificantly during i.v. and i.st. laser stimulation. The LF/HF ratio showed significant changes only during i.v. laser blood irradiation. Integrated cortical EEG (electrocorticogram) decreased insignificantl