Objective: This work was designed to explore the mechanism of acupuncture in increasing the number of white blood cells through analysis of cluster stimulating factor (CSF) in serum.

Methods: 84 female healthy Kunming strain mice were randomly divided into cyclophosphamide (CY) moxibustion, CY acupuncture, CY control and normal control groups with 21 mice in each group. Mice in the former three groups were intraperitoneally injected with CY 200mg/kg (concentration l0mgiml) for one time and mice in the normal control group were injected with equal volume of normal saline, The acupuncture treatment was given immediately after the injection. In CY moxibustion group, the mouse was fixed in a plate. ',Dazhui" (DU14), "Geshu" (BL17) points were applied some vaseline and then each point was applied moxibustion for four moxa-cones; In CY acupuncture group, the bilatera1 "Zusanli" (ST36) and"Sanyinjiao" (SP6) points were punctured and the needles retained for five minutes. In CY contro1 and normal contro1 groups, the mice were just fixed. Mice were treated daily for five days. In the fifth day, b1ood samples were taken for detection of CSF.

Results: The number of CSF in CY acupuncture group was higher than that of CY moxibustion group (P<0.0l); The number of CSF in CY acupuncture group and CY moxibustion group was higher than that of other groups; The number of CSF in CY control group was higher than that of normal control group (P<0.01).

Conclusion: Intraperitoneal injection of CY may improve the CSF content and activity under feedback mechanism. Acupuncture and moxibustion strengthen this feedback regulation and accelerate the division and proliferation of the stem cells and promote the recovery process of leukopenia. Moreover, acupuncture produces better effect than moxibustion. This suggests that one mechanism of acupuncture and moxibustion increasing the number of white blood cells is to increase the CSF content and its activity.

By Yan Duhai