LAUSR

To the Editor: Acupoint sticking therapy reportedly enhances the therapeutic ef fi cacy of drugs, [1] with corresponding acupoints for the treatment of diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and dysmenorrhea. However, reports on the differences in the concentration and ef fi ciency of bioactive constituents for acupoint and nonacupoint applications are lacking. The pharmacoki-netics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) model is suitable for explaining bioactive constituents and pharmaceutical effects in vivo, and the relationship between PK and PD has been applied in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) studies. Accordingly, PK/PD analyses may improve our understanding of the scienti fi c connotation of acupoint administration by observing changes in drug ef fi cacy with dose and time after acupoint administration. However, it remains dif fi cult to establish a PK/PD model with high accuracy after acupoint administration. The development of the microdialysis sampling technique has enabled continuous monitoring of reactions in vivo for pharmaceutical analysis. [2] In the present study, we evaluated the external application of sinomenine powder, a classic TCM powder used to treat RA, as a marker of the ef fi cacy of acupoint application. Additionally, we assessed differences in the concentrations and ef fi cacies of bioactive constituents between acupoint and nonacupoint applications using our PK/PD model and the microdialysis sampling technique. We