Excerpt from “Influence on white blood cell count of Needling Stomach 36 at 8:00 a.m.” Shanghai Journal of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, 1992, vol. 11 no. 2, pg. 40. 

Discussion Section:

The experiment results show that electronic stimulation on Stomach 36 on a normal person’s peripheral white blood cell count appeared to have two elevated peaks: one was 2 hours after needling the point, the second was 16 hours after needling the point. Two to three hours after acupuncture, the neutrophil leukocyte percentage showed a notable rise and there was a nadir after 16 hours. The lymph cell percentage showed an opposite corresponding change.  Our clinical trials showed acupuncture’s regulating effect on the whole body through the range of highs and lows of the white blood cell totals and differentiation counts.  

In China a lot of work has been done to show that acupuncture has a neurohumoral regulating effect that influences the white blood cell count[1]: if [a certain point] is needled and the corresponding nerve trunk is blocked, the [neurohumoral] effect disappears.  Animal research shows that if both adrenal glands are excised and then acupuncture was done on the animal, the acupuncture initially raised the white blood cell response, but 3 hours after needling there is a decline.  Furthermore, after an injection of ACH there were some changes, but not as much as the control group.  In other cases, an animal’s pituitary gland was removed and this cancelled the effect acupuncture has of raising the white blood cell count. This showed that the effect of acupuncture on white blood cell counts was influenced not only by the nerve reflex but also by the hypophysis and adrenaline.  It can be inferred from this experiment that up to two hours after acupuncture the white blood cell count increased because of activity directly at the nerve root. Sixteen hours later there was further activity because a neurohumoral regulatory response happens. 

This experiment only observed the changes of a normal person’s white blood cell count due to acupuncture on Stomach 36 at 8:00 a.m. There may or may not be a relationship to the time of day the needling occurs.  This study laid the groundwork for future studies about the effects of other times of the day.