Electroacupuncture elevates blood cortisol levels in naive horses; sham treatment has no effect.

The study demonstrates how electroacupuncture therapy significantly increases blood cortisol levels in horses, while no such effect is observed with sham treatments.

Introduction and Hypothesis

• The paper starts off by stating a hypothesis that electroacupuncture, a form of acupuncture where a small electric current is passed between pairs of acupuncture needles, could stimulate the release of beta-endorphin and Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) from the pituitary gland of horses.
• ACTH is a hormone that induces the release of cortisol, a steroid hormone, from the adrenal glands. Therefore, the scholars believed that introduction of electroacupuncture would result in an increase in the blood cortisol levels of horses, a result they aimed to scientifically validate through this study.

Methodology and Results

• The study was conducted on naive horses, meaning horses that have never undergone this kind of treatment before, making them ideal subjects for detecting any pure results uncorrupted by previous interventions.
• According to the results obtained, it was observed that indeed, the blood cortisol levels of the horses were significantly increased after 30 minutes of applying electroacupuncture. This result confirmed the stated hypothesis.
• However, to verify their findings, a sham treatment was also conducted as a control. In this case, no electroacupuncture was used.
• Surprisingly, but in alignment with the hypothesis, the sham treatment showed no significant effect on the cortisol levels in the horses’ blood. These results further strengthend the findings, confirming the effectiveness of electroacupuncture treatment in increasing blood cortisol levels.
• This paper, hence, provides evidence that electroacupuncture indeed impacts the concentrations of certain hormones in the blood, leading to important physiological changes.