Acupuncture Treats Infertility with Adenosine

A study that was published in Nature Neuroscience exposed a secret that was known to practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncturists for thousands of years. Unfortunately, Westerns do not believe in tradition only if the tradition is eventually scientifically proven. The study was conducted by the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York and its main finding was that adenosine, which is a neuromodulator with anti-nociceptive attributes is released during acupuncture treatments. In plain English during acupuncture a natural pain-relieving molecule is released. Moreover, adenosine is not only a pain blocker.

Adenosine promotes sleep because of its role as an inhibitory neurotransmitter, and also functions to dilate the coronary arteries and relaxes the smooth muscle inside the artery walls. Regarding fertility, the discovery of adenosine helped answered several questions. Many studies showed that acupuncture stimulates the release of beta-endorphins which are also pain-killing chemicals. Additionally, research shows that women who undergo acupuncture decrease the chance of having miscarriage and have a higher rate of live births comparing to women who do not have acupuncture during or before pregnancy. Additionally, several studies showed, and one of them was published in Fertility and Sterility that the acupuncture itself improves implantation rates for in-vitro fertilization and reduces gonadotrophins.

Acupuncture can also be beneficial for women who suffer from PCOS, and in this case acupuncture can be beneficial because it improves hemodynamics or blood flow to the ovaries and uterine lining, which is a very important part of the conception process as well the PCOS treatment itself because blood carries hormones, electrolytes, oxygen and nutrients to target tissue and upon its return, takes debris or dead cells away from the target tissue. Acupuncture enables an increase in the patency of blood flow to any tissue and this results in a healthier tissue and a better performing organ system.