• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.139-152
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• 2000

This study was designed to evaluate the analgesic effect of bee venom (BV) Acupuncture into different treatment points, Chok-samni (ST36) and blank loci of the gluteal muscle and back. We investigated the changes in formalin-induced pain behavior according to the pretreatment with different concentrations of BV, thirty minutes before the formalin injection. The results were summarized as follows: 1. The formalin-induced pain behavior was suppressed by pretreatment with BV into Chok-samni (ST36) in a dose dependent manner. During the early phase, 0.08mg/kg of BV showed a statistically significant suppression in the formalin-induced pain behavior. Moreover, 0.008mg/kg, 0.016mg/kg, and 0.08mg/kg of BV, except 0.0016mh/kg of BV, had significant suppresive effects on the formalin-induced pain behavior during the late phase. Therefore, these data indicated that the suppressive effect of BV acupuncture on the formalin-induced pain behavior was stronger in the late phase rather than the early phase 2. In order to investigate the analgesic effect of BV acupuncture into different treatment points, the experimental animals were divided into three groups: Chok-samni (ST36) group, gluteal group and back group. In the Chok-samni (ST36) group, the formalin-induced pain behavior during all the phases was significantly reduced as compared with that of the back group. However, as compared with that of the gluteal group, the formalin-induced pain behavior in the Chok-samni (ST36) group was decreased only in the late phase, not in the early phase. The formalin-induced pain behavior in the gluteal group was significantly reduced as compared with that of the back group in the late phase, not in the early phase. We suggested that the analgesic effect of BV acupuncture into Chok-samni (ST36) was most effective among Chok-samni (ST36), gluteal, and the back groups in formalin-induced pain behavior.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.119-138
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• 2000

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of the bee venom(BV) aqua-acupuncture on the neuronal activities of serotonergic(5-HT) system in the brainstem. After the BV aqua-acupuncture was applied on Chok-Samni(ST36) and the gluteal part(Blank locus) in rats, the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons was counted by using computerized image analyzing system. Also, the number of colocalization between 5-HT containing neurons Fos immunoreactive neurons were analyzed by using the double immunohistochemical technique. The results of the experiments were summarized as follows : 1. In almost every neucli, the Chok-Samni group and Blank locus group showed more increase in the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons than the control group. Especially, in Arc, DR, LC, RMg, Gi, PAG Rost and PAG LV, the Chok-Samni group showed more significant increase than the control group. Also, in PAG LV Mid and Arc, Chok-Samni group showed more significant increase than the Blank locus group. 2. In DR and PAG LV Mid, Chok-Samni group and the Blank locus group showed more significant increase in the number of colocalization between 5-HT containing neurons and Fos immunoreactive neurons than the control group after the BV aqua- acupuncture. Also, the Chok-Samni group showed more significant increase than the Blank locus group. Consequently, the BV aqua-acupuncture increased more potent the number of Fos immunoreactive neurons and the activity of serotonergic neurons. Furthermore, the BV aqua-acupuncture was more effective on Chok-Samni than Blank locus group. These results indicate that the BV aqua-acupuncture is very effective therapy to control pain. The therapeutic effect of BV aqua-acupunture may associated with the endogenous modulatory system such as serotonin Those data from the study can be applied to establish the effective treatment of the BV for pain control in the clinical field.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.10 no.2 s.23
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• pp.81-86
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• 2007

Objectives : This study was conducted to carry out quantitative evaluation and safety of Sweet Bee Venom. Methods : Content analysis was done using HPLC, measurement of LD$^{50}$ was conducted intravenous, subcutaneous, and intramuscular injection to the ICR mice. Results : 1. According to HPLC analysis, removal of the enzymes containing phospholipase A2 was successfully rendered on Sweet Bee Venom. And analyzing melittin content, Sweet Bee Venom contained 12% more melittin than Bee Venom. 2. LD$^{50}$ of ICR mice with Sweet Bee Venom was more than 20mg/kg in subcutaneous injection and intravenous injection, between 15mg/kg and 20mg/kg in muscular injection. 3. LD$^{50}$ of ICR mice with Bee Venom was between 6 and 9mg/kg in subcutaneous injection and intravenous injection, and more than 9mg/kg in muscular injection. Conclusion : Above results indicate that Sweet Bee Venom was more safe than Bee Venom and the process of removing enzymes was well rendered in Sweet Bee Venom.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.63-72
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• 2003

Objective : he purposes of this study are to evaluate the efficacy of Bee Venom therapy(BV) on HNP(Herniation of Nucleus Purposus) of Lumbar spine by use of Visual Analog Scale(VAS), Pain Rating Scale(PRS) and Digital Infrared Thermographic Imaging(DITI), and to investigate their correlation. Methods : We researched 20 patients who were diagnosed by MRI as having a HNP, and treated them by Oriental medical therapy(including BV) for 4 weeks. The evaluation was peformed twice(admission day and after treatment for 4 weeks), and we compared the results. Results : 1. VAS, PRS and ${\Delta}t$(by DITI) were decreased after BV for 4 weeks significantly(p<0.01). 2. There was significant correlation between VAS and PRS(p<0.05). 3. There was significant correlation between PRS and ${\Delta}t$(p<0.05). 4. There was no significant correlation between VAS and ${\Delta}t$. Conclusions : BV improved HNP subjectively and objectively, and correlation was found between VAS and PRS and between PRS and ${\Delta}t$. Further study is needed for investigating their correlation.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.245-250
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• 2019

Background: This study was designed to evaluate the clinical safety of Bee Venom (BV) pharmacopuncture at craniofacial acupuncture points. Methods: This was a retrospective study of 108 patients diagnosed with peripheral facial paralysis, trigeminal neuralgia, or facial spasm who were admitted to Kyung Hee University Korean Medicine Hospital at Gangdong, from April 1st, 2017 to August 30th, 2017. Patients were allocated into either, Group 1 (the non-allergy group of patients who did not have an allergic reaction to BV) or Group 2, the group who had allergic reactions to BV. To evaluate the clinical safety of BV pharmacopuncture after each treatment, several criteria were used to measure any side effects: outcome, Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events scale, Mueller HL scale, treatment decision after adverse reaction, causality, measures performed for patients with adverse reactions, and efficacy assessment. Results: BV pharmacopuncture delivered in 0.1-0.2 mL at a concentration of 1:30,000 at the craniofacial acupuncture points, showed no statistically significant differences in baseline characteristics between non-allergy Group 1 and allergy Group 2. Amongst the 108 patients, 11 reported side effects after BV pharmacopuncture treatment. These adverse events included rash (n = 7), pruritus (n = 5), swelling (n = 1), vesicles (n = 1), erythema (n = 1), and hives (n = 1). All side effects resolved without sequelae. Conclusion: In this study, BV pharmacopuncture delivered at low doses at the craniofacial acupuncture points, resulted in 10% of patients experiencing non serious side effects suggesting that BV pharmacopuncture was clinically well tolerated.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.65-84
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• 2001

We recently demonstrated that bee venom (BV) injection into acupoint (i.e. Zusanli) produced more potent anti-inflammatory and antinociciptive effect in Freunds adjuvant induced rheumatoid arthritis (RA) model as compared with that of non-acupoint injection(i.e back). However, the precise components underlying BV-induced antinociceptive and/or anti-inflammatory effects have not been fully understood. Therefore, we further investigated the anti-arthritic effect of BV after extracting the whole BV according to solubility (water soluble: BVA, ethylacetate soluble: BVE). Subcutaneous BVA treatment (0.9 mg/kg/day) into Zusanli acupoint was found to dramatically inhibit paw edema and radiological change (i.e. new bone proliferation and soft tissue swelling) caused by Freunds adjuvant injection. In addition, the increase of serum interleukin-6 by RA induction was normalized by the BVA treatment as similar with that of non-arthritic animals. On the other hand, BVA therapy significantly reduced arthritis induced nociceptive behaviors (i.e., nociceptive score for mechanical hyperalgesia and thermal hyperalgesia). Furthermore, BVA treatment significantly suppressed adjuvant induced Fos expression in the lumbar spinal cord at 3 weeks post-adjuvant injection. However, BVE treatment (0.05 mg/kg/day) has not any anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive effect on RA. Based on the present results, we demonstrated that BVA might be a effective fraction in whole BV for long-term treatment of RA-induced pain and inflammation. However, it is clear necessary that further fraction study about BVA was required for elucidating an effective component of BVA.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.22-26
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was performed to estimate the effectiveness of burning acupuncture therapy (Hwachim) and sweet bee venom pharmacopuncture (S-BV pharmacopuncture) in treating lateral epicondylitis of elbow. Methods: We selected 33 patients at first, but 13 patients were excluded due to unclear medical records. Finally, a total of 20 patients who had received treatment from January 2012 to December 2013 were included in this study; all 20 patients had undergone Hwachim for the treatment of lateral epicondylitis of elbow, and 19 of the 20 had been treated with S-BV pharmacopuncture (Korea Pharmacopuncture Institute, KPI) and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) as an ancillary treatment method. The degrees of pain of the 20 patients were evaluated by using the visual analogue scale (VAS) score at their first and final visits. The Wilcoxon signed rank test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the VAS scores statistically. Results: The VAS score had decreased significantly from $10.00{\pm}0.00$ to $4.00{\pm}2.47$ (P = 0.000) by the end of the treatment. No significant changes were observed based on the number of treatments (P = 0.246), the age of the patients (P = 0.810), the duration of the illness (P = 0.705), and the location of the lesion (P = 0.076). Conclusion: This study suggests Hwachim and S-BV pharmacopuncture are very effective for treating lateral epicondylitis of the elbow.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.229-240
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• 2015

Objectives : The purpose of this report is to show the effect of complex traditional Korean medical care focused on warm needling(WN) and bee venom(BV) injection for a patient suffering from traumatic brachial plexus injury(BPI). Methods : A 51-year-old female patient with BPI was suffering from paresis and hypoesthesia with upper-extremity impairment. The patient had been treated once a day from 4 Feb to 11 Apr of 2015 mainly with WN and BV injection on the acupoints near the distribution of the brachial plexus. Improvement of the symptoms was measured by range of motion(ROM), manual muscle test(MMT) grip strength, and with the numeric rating scale(NRS) of tactile and pain sensitivity. Results : After 67 days of treatment, all obtained results showed remarkable improvement. The patient's satisfaction declaration was recorded through an interview at the end of the treatment. Conclusions : The results suggest that anatomically concerned WN and BV treatment can be a valuable option in reducing or normalizing pains from traumatic BPI.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.5-41
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• 2010

Objectives: This study was performed to analyse four week repeated dose toxicity of Sweet Bee Venom(Sweet BV) extracted from the bee venom in Beagle dogs. Methods: All experiments were conducted under the regulations of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) at Biotoxtech Company, a non-clinical study authorized institution. Male and female Beagle dogs of 5-6 months old were chosen for the pilot study of four week repeated dose toxicity of Sweet BV which was administered at the level of 0.56mg/kg body weight which is eighty times higher than the clinical application dosage as the high dosage, followed by 0.28 and 0.14mg/kg as midium and low dosage, respectively. Equal amount of excipient(normal saline) to the Sweet BV experiment groups was administered as the control group every day for four weeks. Results: 1. No mortality was witnessed in all of the experiment groups. 2. All experiment groups were appealed pain sense in the treating time compared to the control group, and hyperemia and movement disorder were observed around the area of administration in all experiment groups, and higher occurrence in the higher dosage treatment. 3. For weight measurement, Neither male nor female groups showed significant changes. 4. In the urine analysis, CBC and biochemistry didn't show any significant changes in the experiment groups compared with control group. 5. For weight measurement of organs, experiment groups didn't show any significant changes compared with control group. 6. To verify abnormalities of organs and tissues, thigh muscle which treated with Sweet BV, cerebrum, liver, lung, kidney, and spinal cords were removed and conducted histologocal observation with H-E staining. In the histologocal observation of thigh muscle, cell infiltration, inflammatory, degeneration, necrosis of muscle fiber, and fibrosis were found in both thigh tissue. And the changes were depend on the dose of Sweet BV. But another organs were not detected in any abnormalities. 7. The proper high dosage of Sweet BV for the thirteen week repeated test in Beagle dogs may be 0.28mg/kg in one time. Conclusion: Above findings suggest that Sweet BV is relatively safe treatment medium. Further studies on the subject should be conducted to yield more concrete evidences.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.33-40
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• 2008

Objective The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Sweet Bee Venom to the abdominal fat accumulation clinically. Methods The 20 healthy women volunteers who showed the notice of this study by the home page of Sangji University were treated with Sweet Bee Venom(SBV) during twenty times. To investigate the effects of Sweet Bee Venom of the abdominal fat accumulation, abdominal CT, LFT, Thermography, BMI, Inbody 3.0 etc. were performed during clinical trials. And statistical analysis was carried out the data of 10 volunteers who performed all the schedule of this study. Results Following results were obtained from the clinical studies Sweet Bee Venom showed the effect of decreased the body weight, thickness of abdominal skin and fat layer, BMI, and increased abdominal heat, but they are not showed statistical significant. Conclusions These results suggest that treatment Sweet Bee Venom on the abdomen was effective to decrease fat tissue but for the treatment of obesity was performed with right diet program and exercise.