Hypertension possess a significant risk factor for a variety of diseases and affects millions of people all around the world. Recent studies suggest that NO plays a role in pathogenesis of hypertension while some investigators find a close relationship between acupuncture treatment and NO levels. We therefore aimed to investigate the effect of acupuncture on the levels of blood pressure and nitric oxide (NO) in hypertensive patients. After obtaining institutional ethics committee approval and patients' informed consent, 32 essential hypertensive patients aged between 32-65 and taking antihypertensive drugs were included to the study. A total of 10 sessions of manual acupuncture were applied on body acupoints (EX-HN3 (Yintang), KI 3, LIV 3, SP 9, LI 4, HT 7, ST 36, SP 6) in 10 weeks. Systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) levels and blood NO levels were measured for 3 times (i.e. before & after the first session, and after the 10 th session). Main outcome measures of our study were the changes in SBP and DBP as well as nitric oxide levels between 3 measurements were compared. Our study showed that SBP and DBP values decreased both after the 1st and 10th sessions of acupuncture treatments (p<0.05). The NO concentration also increased both after the 1st (71.5%) and 10th sessions (184.6%) (p<0.05).

The purpose of this study is to contribute to efforts to understand the pathophysiology of migraine and create an alternative perspective for prophylaxis and treatment of migraine attacks. Acupuncture treatment was applied to the 22 volunteer migraine patients. The acupuncture treatment consists of 5 sessions with 2 sessions per week. Blood samples have been collected before performing acupuncture, after the 1st session and after the 5th session of the acupuncture. And for the control group blood samples were collected only once. In our study the mean serum NO levels in healthy people were (3,58±0,53) while patients with migraine group were (5,55±0,70) respectively. Serum NO levels were 55% higher in migraine group compared to the control group The NO concentration also decreased after 5th session (30%) (p<0.05). After the 1st sessions NO level decreased 4,86% in the migraine group. After the 5th session NO level decreased 30,63% in the migraine group. After the 5th session NO level decreased 27,08% compared to 1st session in the migraine group. After the 1st session of acupuncture treatment, level of NO in migraine group were 4,86% and it is reduced but statistically not significant. After the 5th acupuncture treatment serum NO levels were reduced to (3,85±0.62) 30,63% in migraine group and were statistically lower (p<0.05). After the 5th session NO level decreased 27,08% compared to 1st session in the migraine group. In this study, acupuncture treatment is appeared to be effective by lowering the levels of serum NO and acupuncture has cumulative effects. Although there are earlier studies showing the effect of NO in migraine, this has been the 1st study in this field, which shows the effect of acupuncture on NO in migraine patients.

Nocturia is a common symptom which causes sleeping disorders in the elderly. A number of studies have demonstrated that acupuncture may modulate a wide range of neuro endocrinological factors following stimulation of acupoints. We aim to examine the effect of acupuncture treatment and plasma levels of ADH, melatonin hormone and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) on nocturia patients. 28 healthy women subjects (Group I) and 27 women nocturia patients (Group II) have been joined to our study. Following a total of 10 acupuncture sessions has been applied with two sessions per week, we took blood samples from the nocturia patients (Group III). Plasma antidiuretic hormone, melatonin and TAC levels were studied by Elisa method. As a result, all of the patients responded to acupuncture treatment positively. In our study, patients with nocturnal polyuria (Group II) showed significantly low plasma antidiuretic hormone and melatonin levels in comparison to the Group I(p<0.001). Although plasma melatonin levels showed an increase by 12.35% in Group III in comparison to Group II, plasma ADH levels did not change between the two groups. Thus, it was concluded that melatonin could be beneficial for nocturia via central nervous system effect. Patients with nocturnal polyuria (Group II) plasma TAC level showed a decrease when compared with the control group (Group I). However, the plasma TAC level decreased by 9.83% following the 10th session in Group III in comparison to Group II (p=0,044). Based on our results we concluded that acupuncture treatment has a regulatory effect on plasma melatonin levels in patients with nocturia and can be used in the treatment of nocturia patients.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of acupuncture on dynamic thiol–disulphide homeostasis and ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels as a novel oxidative stress parameter in migraine patients. Acupuncture treatment was applied to the 22 volunteer migraine patients. The acupuncture treatment consists of 5 sessions with 2 sessions per week. Blood samples have been collected before performing acupuncture, after the 1st session and after the 5th session of the acupuncture. And for the control group blood samples were collected only once. A total of 44 participants were included in the study, and 24 of whom were diagnosed with migraine. The total thiol, native thiol and ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels in the serum were measured in all patients and healthy individuals. The dynamic disulphide bond and ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) levels were calculated from these values. The total and native thiol levels of migraine patients participating in the study were found to be significantly higher than the total and native thiol levels of healthy individuals. The total thiol, native thiol, and dynamic disulphide bond levels, and ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) were correlated with attack frequency, pain intensity, or migraine type. Thiol-disülfide homeostasis can play roles in the etiology and severity of Migraine.