Zh Nevropatol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 1981 ; 81(2): 117-22.

[Certain mechanisms of the effect of acupuncture on the sympatho-adrenal system of tobacco smokers]

Markelova VF, Belitskaia RA, Rudnev SG.

Daily excretion of adrenaline, noradrenaline, dopamine and dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) was examined in smokers being treated by acupuncture. It was shown that the effect of the acupuncture treatment depended on the initial functional activity of the sympatho-adrenal system. A marked therapeutic effect was observed in patients in whom a 15- to 18-hour-long abstaining from smoking prior to the treatment let to a shift in the ratio between the excreted adrenaline and noradrenaline towards prevalent excretion of the former. It was believed that such a change in the excretion of the catecholamines was due to the emotional disturbances associated with the beginning of the nicotinic abstinence. The positive therapeutic effect of acupuncture consisting in giving up the smoking completely was combined with normalization of the catecholamine excretion.