[Effect of needling quchi and taichong points on blood levels of endothelin and angiotension converting enzyme in patients with hypertension].
OBJECTIVE
To observe the effect and explore the mechanism of needling Quchi and Taichong points in treating hypertension patients and the influence on blood levels of angiotension converting enzyme (ACE) and endothelin (ET) levels.


METHODS
Sixty hypertension patients were randomly divided into the Taichong needling group (A), Quchi needling group (B) and control group (C, treated by Captopril). Changes of plasma ET was determined by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and serum ACE content was measured by chemical colorimeter.


RESULTS
The effect of lowering systolic pressure at 15 min after needling in Group B was better than that in Group A (P < 0.01), but it was inferior to the latter at 120 min after withdrawal of needle (P < 0.05), while after one course treatment, the effect in Group B and C was obviously better than that in Group A (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01). Content of serum ACE significantly increased in Group B and that of plasma ET significantly decreased in Group A, showing significant difference between the two groups, all P < 0.01.


CONCLUSIONS
Needling Quchi and Taichong all show hypertensive effect, the former is obviously higher than that of the latter. They could regulate the blood level of ACE and ET, protect and repair vascular endothelial cells, but the key links of their mechanism might be different.
Wu
Yuan-Hua
YH
Second Affiliated Hospital of Guiyang College of TCM, Guiyang 550003. wuyuanhua@yahoo.com
Zhu
Guang-Qi
GQ
Lin
Xing-You
XY
Oyang
Lengxing
L
Su
Hongmei
H
Wu
Bangqi
B
D015669:Acupuncture Points; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019332:Endothelin-1 / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000097:blood*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
D019332:Endothelin-1; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A