The Effects of Sphenopalatine Ganglion Acupuncture on Nasal Function

Capital Medical University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Healthy

Treatments: Procedure: active sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture; Procedure: sham sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02603588

TR-acupuncture-1

Details and patient eligibility

About

Sphenopalatine ganglion (SPG)-acupuncture has been shown to exhibit distinct effects in treatment of nasal inflammatory disease, but the mechanisms remain largely unknown. Investigators aimed to assess the effects of SPG acupuncture for nasal ventilation function and autonomic nervous system in health volunteers. The randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial enrolled healthy volunteers.Healthy subjects were randomly assigned to either active SPG-acupuncture group or sham-acupuncture group. All subjects were assessed for self-reported nasal ventilation, nasal patency (nasal airway resistance (NAR) and nasal cavity volume (NVC)), exhaled nasal nitric oxide (nNO) before and after acupuncture. Meanwhile, in order to explore underlying mechanisms of SPG acupuncture, the changes in neuropeptides (substance P (SP), vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and neuropeptide Y (NPY)) in nasal secretions were investigated at baseline, 30 minutes, 2 hours, and 24 hours after acupuncture.

Enrollment: 44 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 45 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• non-smoking volunteers
• without history of nasal disease (allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, nasal polyps, nasal septum deviation and history of nose surgery) or lung disease (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and fibrosis)
• free of upper and lower respiratory tract infections for at least 4 weeks before beginning the study.
• negative skin prick test for allergy

Exclusion criteria

• had received acupuncture within the last four weeks before the start of the study
• no history of diabetes mellitus, autonomic neuropathy, coronary heart disease or hypertension.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

---

44 participants in 2 patient groups

active acupuncture

Experimental group

Description:

intervention: subjects in the active acupuncture group received active sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture

Treatment:

Procedure: active sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture

sham acupuncture

Sham Comparator group

Description:

intervention: subjects in the sham acupuncture group received sham sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture

Treatment:

Procedure: sham sphenopalatine ganglion acupuncture