• 대한약침학회지
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• 제17권2호
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• pp.27-33
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• 2014

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-depressant effects of pharmacopuncture using sumsu (Bufonis venenum). Methods: Animals were divided into three groups (control, sham, and experimental), with eight mice per group. The sham and the experimental groups were exposed to 2 hours of immobilization stress daily for 14 days. They were also injected with normal saline (sham) or subjected to pharmacopuncture with sumsu at the acupoints HT7, SP6, and GV20 (experimental). The depression or anxiety-like behaviors of the mice in each group were evaluated 1 day after treatment. Results: There was no difference in locomotor activity between the groups during the open-field test; i.e., all groups had normal motor function. However, the open-field and the forced-swimming tests revealed that depression and anxiety-like behaviors were decreased significantly in the group treated with sumsu pharmacopuncture. Conclusion: Sumsu pharmacopuncture attenuated depressive or anxiety-like behavior in mice stressed with chronic immobilization. These results suggest that sumsu pharmacopuncture has therapeutic potential for treating neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety or depression disorder.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.175-183
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• 2015

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of Sumsu (Bufonis venenum) pharmacopuncture on insomnia and depression. Methods : We investigated 32 patients with a sleep disorder who had been recruited at a Korean medical hospital from March $1^{st}$, 2014 to April $16^{th}$, 2015. We divided subjects into two groups : The control group(N=15) was treated with Normal Saline and the experimental group(N=17) was treated with Sumsu(Bufonis venenum) pharmacopuncture. The subjects were injected with 0.05 ml~0.1 ml, for a total of 0.6 ml on each acupuncture point. These were Pungbu ($GV_{16}$), Pungi ($GB_{20}$), Gyeonjeong ($GB_{21}$), and Anmyun(EX-$HN_{20}$). Both groups were evaluated with the beck depression inventory(BDI) and given an insomnia score before treatment, after one week, two weeks and four weeks from the initial visit. Results : The Insomnia score and BDI decreased significantly in the experimental group. In comparing the control group with the experimental group, there was a more significant improvement of the insomnia score in the experimental group during all periods of this study. However, the difference of change in BDI between the control group and experimental group was only significant in the first week. Conclusions : Sumsu (Bufonis venenum) pharmacopuncture can be used as an effective treatment for patients with insomnia and depression.

• 한방재활의학과학회지
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• 제28권3호
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• pp.119-124
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• 2018

Three cases of simple exanthematous eruption were suspected during Sumsu (Bufonis Venenum) pharmacopuncture (SP) topical anesthesia for acupotomy. Patients had skin rash with pruritus on both ankle, posterior neck, and left shoulder after 11, 12, and 7 times of SP treatment, respectively. There were no cases of systemic manifestations or changes in vital signs. As a result of using the World Health Organization-Uppsala Monitoring Centre (WHO-UMC) causality assessment, all the cases were evaluated as 'unlikely'. However, the results of using the Korean algorithm for assessing the causality of drug adverse reactions version 2.0 were evaluated as 'possible'. This report is the first case report on adverse events suspected of occurring after SP treatment. Although the causal relationship between suspected intervention and the adverse event is not clear, there was a difficulty in completely excluding the possibility. Additional safety studies will be required to make SP more widely available.