中国结合医学杂志（英文版）Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine

Author Name	Affiliation	E-mail
RONG Pei-Jing, ZHAO Jing-Jun, LI Yu-Qing
Gerhard Litscher	1. Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing (100700), China 2.Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Center Graz, Research Unit for Complementary and Integrative Laser Medicine, Research Unit of Biomedical Engineering in Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Medical University of Graz, Graz (8036), Austria	gerhard.litscher@medunigraz.at

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Abstract:

Treatment by auricular acupuncture has a long history. Ear-acupoint research has been advancing step by step in China and also in Europe. Auricles are rich in nerves, therefore a close relationship with different functions of the human body has been proved by the research teams of the two main authors of this article from China and Austria. In recent years, great progress has been made in the research of regulating human body functions through electroacupuncture at the auricular branch of the vagus nerve, which is part of auricular acupuncture therapy. It is well known that the auricular branch of the vagus nerve is the only peripheral pathway to the cerebral cortex. Studies of the Chinese team on hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy and depression have shown that the mechanism of auricular vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) may be comparable with cervical VNS in terms of pathways. Auricular VNS has a broad clinical application prospect.