Hindawi Publishing Corporation Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine Volume 2013, Article ID 982095, 8 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/982095 Research Article Effects of Acupuncture on 1-Chloro-2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene- Induced Atopic Dermatitis Ji-Yeun Park, 1,2 Hi-Joon Park, 1 You Yeon Choi, 3 Mi Hye Kim, 3 Seung-Nam Kim, 1,2 and Woong Mo Yang 3 1 Studies of Translational Acupuncture Research (STAR), Acupuncture and Meridian Science Research Center (AMSRC), Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130-701, Republic of Korea 2 Department of Korean Medical Science, Graduate School of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 130-701, Republic of Korea 3 Department of Prescriptionology, College of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 26 Kyungheedae-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130-701, Republic of Korea Correspondence should be addressed to Hi-Joon Park; acufnd@khu.ac.kr and Woong Mo Yang; wmyang@khu.ac.kr Received 16 May 2013; Revised 3 July 2013; Accepted 5 July 2013 Academic Editor: Yong-Qing Yang Copyright © 2013 Ji-Yeun Park et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Tough the efects of acupuncture in atopic dermatitis have been proven in clinical studies, its mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we investigate the efectiveness and mechanism of action for acupuncture treatment on the LI11 meridian point for treatment of allergic contact dermatitis. BALB/c mice received 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNCB) application to induce skin infammation. Acupuncture treatment on LI11 signifcantly inhibited cutaneous hyperplasia, serum IgE levels, and expression of proinfammatory cytokine (IL-4, IL-8, and TNF-) mRNA and NF-B, ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 proteins. Acupuncture treatment of local points also inhibited cutaneous hyperplasia and serum IgE levels; however, it was not efective in regulating proinfammatory cytokines and proteins. In addition, LI11 treatment is more efective at reducing serum IgE levels and pro-infammatory cytokines and proteins than local point treatment. Tese results suggest that acupuncture treatment is efective in alleviating allergic contact dermatitis by reducing pro-infammatory cytokines and proteins. 1. Introduction Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is a chronic infammatory skin disease presenting with cutaneous hyperreactivity that progresses due to the activation of infammatory cells related to various allergic immune responses [1]. Although the etiology and pathology of ACD are not fully understood, previous studies suggest that typical symptoms of ACD are predominantly caused by allergen-specifc T-helper (T) 1/2 cell dysregulation, leading to immunoglobulin E (IgE) production [2, 3] and the accumulation of proinfammatory mediators [4]. Te incidence of ACD has increased dramatically, espe- cially in industrialized countries, and it now afects up to 20% of children and 3% of adults worldwide [5]. Until recently, ACD has been treated with medications such as steroid therapy and immunosuppressive agents. However, these pharmacological therapies may cause various side efects [6]. Tus, the use of less toxic alternative therapies, including acupuncture and herbal preparations, is increasing for the treatment of ACD [7–9]. Acupuncture is a nonpharmacologic technique widely used in the treatment of pain [10–12], wounds, and vari- ous skin diseases such as infammation [13–15]. In several studies, acupuncture has been shown to reduce experimental itch, allergen-induced basophil activation, and eczema in atopic dermatitis [16–19]. Tough the therapeutic efcacy of acupuncture in the treatment of atopic dermatitis has been proven in clinical studies [17, 18], its mechanism of action remains poorly understood. In the present study, we employed a 1-chloro-2,4-dini- trobenzene- (DNCB-) induced model of ACD in mice.