Electroacupuncture at the bladder-region point BL33 most effectively restored bladder muscle activity in urinary retention rats, regardless of stimulation frequency or manual needle manipulation.
Researchers created urinary retention in anaesthetised male rats through urethral outlet obstruction. They applied low-frequency electroacupuncture to BL33, SP6, and LI4 in random order to assess immediate effects, then compared manual acupuncture and high-frequency electroacupuncture at BL33 using the same stimulation programme. Bladder smooth-muscle electrical activity and bladder pressure recordings were used to evaluate contractions and voiding function.
Low-frequency electroacupuncture at BL33 and SP6 increased bladder smooth-muscle firing, but BL33 produced stronger improvements in firing frequency, contraction duration, and voiding duration than SP6 or LI4. At BL33, manual acupuncture, low-frequency electroacupuncture, and high-frequency electroacupuncture produced comparable improvements, suggesting that point location was more important than the stimulation method used.
