本研究以十二名健康男性爲受試者，以針刺足三里或內關穴來探討針刺對正常人安靜時心、肺功能之影響。受試者在安靜及針刺的情況下，分析其心跳率、呼吸速率、耗氧量、二氧化碳排出量及通氣量。受試者依隨機方式分成二組：一組接受針刺足三里；另一組則針刺內關，來比較針刺前後及二組之間安靜時心肺功能之變化。以變異數分析法及t-檢定作統計分析。不論針刺內關或足三里，均能使安靜時心跳率降低，但以針刺內關穴較爲顯著。對於氣體代謝方面，兩組在耗氣量和二氣化碳排出量，雖有下降趨努，但統計結果並無顯著差異。本研究結果表明針刺內關穴位確實可以降低安靜時之心跳率，且比針刺足三里顯著，這可能和經絡所相連之臟腑有關。而氣體代謝雖有下降趨勢卻不顯著可能是樣本數不足或選穴等因素，有待進一步研究。
Zusanli (St-36) and Neiguan (P4) acupoints were needled to observe the change of cardiopulmonary function of normal men at rest while receiving acupuncture treatment. Heart rate, respiratory rate, oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production and expired volume were analyzed in resting and experimental conditions. The subjects were twelve healthy men volunteers who were divided into two groups, one needled at Zusanli and the other at Neiguan. The cardiopulmonary functions prior to and after acupuncture treatments were compared. The ANOVA and t-Test were used as statistical and analytic methods. The results suggest that heart rate drops when Zusanli or Neiguan are needled (p＜0.05). However, needling at Neiguan produced more significant results. As to the gaseous metabolism, a decreasing trend was found in both groups concerning VO2 and VCO2, but without significant statistical variation (p＞0.05). Neiguan slowed down the resting heat rate, and is more effective in this than Zusanli. This may be related to the meridian and the connecting organ. The gaseous metabolism decreased, but without significant effect of both group. This may be due to the sample size or inappropriate acupoints. Further investigation is required.
