Objectives :
This study is designed to identify the responses of autonomic nervous system and gastrointestinal function which are induced by acupuncture at abdominal anterior cutaneous nerve.

Methods :
This study is one group before and after pilot study. Thirty healthy adults were selected. Subjects were treated once, after having been fasting six hours. They had three before tests, labeling points for acupuncture, acupuncture, and three after tests in order. The points of acupuncture were motor points of rectus abdominis where the abdominal anterior cutaneous nerve came to the skin from abdominal wall. Before and after tests were consisted of three things: Digital Infrared Thermographic Imaging(D.I.T.I.), Heart Rate Variability(HRV), and Recording of bowel sounds. Subjects’ anterior and posterior of upper body skin temperature were measured by D.I.T.I.. Their autonomic nervous system is also checked by HRV parameters which include Mean Heart Rate(MHRT), Root Mean Square of the Successive Differences(RMS-SD), Low Frequency Density(LF), High Frequency Density(HF), and LF/HF ratio. Gastrointestinal function was measured by checking the volume and frequency of recorded bowel sounds. All results were analyzed by ‘Paired T-test’ and ‘Wilcoxon signed rank test’.


Results :
There were significant differences on the skin temperature of upper body and the frequency of bowel sounds(p<0.001, p<0.001). The HRV parameters and volume of bowel sounds had no significant differences(p>0.05, p>0.05).

Conclusion :
Even though no significant differences in HRV parameters, the significant differences of skin temperature of upper body and frequency of bowel sounds could mean acupuncture at abdominal anterior cutaneous nerve could affect the autonomic nervous system and gastrointestinal function. However, this study had no group to compare with. Future randomized project should address this issue.