Acupuncture is an invasive procedure commonly used to relieve pain. Acupuncture is practiced worldwide, despite difficulties in reconciling its principles with evidence-based medicine. We found that adenosine, a neuromodulator with anti-nociceptive properties, was released during acupuncture in mice and that its anti-nociceptive actions required adenosine A1 receptor expression. Direct injection of an adenosine A1 receptor agonist replicated the analgesic effect of acupuncture. Inhibition of enzymes involved in adenosine degradation potentiated the acupuncture-elicited increase in adenosine, as well as its anti-nociceptive effect. These observations indicate that adenosine mediates the effects of acupuncture and that interfering with adenosine metabolism may prolong the clinical benefit of acupuncture.

Adenosine A1 receptors mediate local anti-nociceptive effects of acupuncture

Excitation-contraction coupling and cardiac contractile force: by Donald M. Bers, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991, $96.50 (xviii + 258 pages) ISBN 0 7923 1186 8

Ethnopharmacological studies of antimicrobial remedies in the south of Brazil.

The global population of individuals over the age of 65 is growing at an unprecedented rate and is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2050. Most older individuals are affected by multiple chronic diseases, leading to complex drug treatments and increased risk of physical and cognitive disability. Improving or preserving the health and quality of life of these individuals is challenging due to a lack of well-established clinical guidelines. Physicians are often forced to engage in cycles of "trial and error" that are centered on palliative treatment of symptoms rather than the root cause, often resulting in dubious outcomes. Recently, geroscience challenged this view, proposing that the underlying biological mechanisms of aging are central to the global increase in susceptibility to disease and disability that occurs with aging. In fact, strong correlations have recently been revealed between health dimensions and phenotypes that are typical of aging, especially with autophagy, mitochondrial function, cellular senescence, and DNA methylation. Current research focuses on measuring the pace of aging to identify individuals who are "aging faster" to test and develop interventions that could prevent or delay the progression of multimorbidity and disability with aging. Understanding how the underlying biological mechanisms of aging connect to and impact longitudinal changes in health trajectories offers a unique opportunity to identify resilience mechanisms, their dynamic changes, and their impact on stress responses. Harnessing how to evoke and control resilience mechanisms in individuals with successful aging could lead to writing a new chapter in human medicine.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/acel.13080

Measuring biological aging in humans: A quest.

Alicia E. Consolini

Papers

Pharmacological basis for the empirical use of Eugenia uniflora L. (Myrtaceae) as antihypertensive.

Pharmacological effects of Eugenia uniflora (Myrtaceae) aqueous crude extract on rat's heart

The spasmolytic effect of Aloysia citriodora, Palau (South American cedrón) is partially due to its vitexin but not isovitexin on rat duodenums

Cardiotonic and sedative effects of Cecropia pachystachya Mart. (ambay) on isolated rat hearts and conscious mice.

Development of an HPLC method for determination of metabolic compounds in myocardial tissue.