Do calcium channel blockers have any influence on the immunological status of renal graft recipients on ciclosporin therapy?

We have assessed the peripheral distribution of T cells, using the monoclonal antibodies OKT3, OKT4, OKT8 and LEU7 and the proliferative response to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), in 10 renal transplant recipients. In each patient, the immunological pattern was evaluated twice, both before and after 1 month of calcium antagonist (calcium channel blockers, CaA) treatment. During treatment with CaA, we have observed both a significant decrease in the mitogenic response to PHA and a significant increase in OKT8 cells. Our data support the hypothesis that CaAs per se may have an immunomodulatory effect on T cell distribution independently of changes in ciclosporin (CS) blood levels. These results could also provide a cellular basis for synergism between CS and CaA.

[Acupuncture and adrenergic mechanisms of the autonomous nervous system]. / Agopuntura e meccanismi adrenergici del sistema nervoso autonomo.

A review of current knowledge about the involvement of peripheral adrenergic mechanisms in the action of acupuncture is presented. Apart from its undeniable effects on these mechanisms, acupuncture seems to operate in two different ways: indirect stimulation due to an aspecific response to the stress of the acupuncture and direct stimulation or depression, mainly of noradrenaline increase according to the placing of the needles and the condition being treated. During electroacupuncture anesthesia the inhibition of peripheral adrenergic mechanisms is proportional to the effectiveness of the induction.

[Acupuncture and acetylcholine]. / Agopuntura e acetilcolina.

A review of the relationship between electro-acupuncture and acetylcholine is presented. Brain cholinergic mechanisms of areas such as hypothalamus, thalamus, locus coeruleus, caudatus-putamen complex and cortex are surely involved in the production of acupuncture analgesia; the role of peripheral cholinergic mechanisms is still disputed, although confirmed by a certain number of indirect positive results.

[Acupuncture and dopamine]. / Agopuntura e dopamina.

A review of present knowledge on the connection between acupuncture and dopamine is presented. It is pointed out that clinical studies on the use of acupuncture in diseases where there is a known imbalance in the cerebral dopaminergic mechanisms almost completely ignore this connection. Similarly studies on the role of dopamine in electroacupuncture analgesia have so far produced conflicting results.

[Suppression of the opiate withdrawal syndrome with GABA analogs, low-dose psychotropic drugs and acupuncture]. / Soppressione della sindrome da astinenza da oppiacei con farmaci GABAergici, psicofarmaci a basso dosaggio e agopuntura.

15 male heroin addicts, 19-26 yr, were given 20 hospital treatments for detoxifying. Therapeutic program was based on GABAergic drugs (1-glutamine, sodium valproate, pyridoxine), low doses psychodrugs and acupuncture, added from the 3rd day. A full avoidance of the withdrawal syndrome was reached in 15 out of 18 Ss so treated with 8-10 hours following the last heroin injection, while the remaining 3 Ss experienced only a slight form of syndrome, which completely disappeared within the 24th hour. The 2 Ss manifesting evident symptoms of withdrawal and starting the therapeutic program respectively at the 20th and 32nd hour had their syndrome stopped and suppressed respectively within the 24th and 48th hour. Acupuncture accelerated the somatopsychic recovery leading to a lowering of the daily doses of the drugs used.

[Acupuncture as a part of a program of detoxification and weaning from opiates: 25 cases]. / Agopuntura come parte di un programma di disintossicazione e disassuefazione da oppiacei: 25 cases.

Presents results of a detoxification and habit loosing program carried out in 25 morphine-like substances addicts (mainly heroine) aged 19-26. The therapeutic treatment based on gabaergic drugs (l-glutamine, sodium valproate and piridoxine), low doses psychodrugs (tricyclics and benzodiacepines) and acupuncture, began in 13 subjects at the hospital and continued at the outpatients' service, while 12 subjects were treated only at the outpatients' service. Follow up: 6 subjects of the hospitalized group free from the addiction (5 subjects from more than 1 year after their discharge); 3 subjects of the outpatients' group abstinent from no more than 4 months after discharge. Biochemical mechanisms involved in this therapeutic program are extensively discussed.

[Experience with detoxification and weaning of heroin addicts by means of acupuncture, gabergic drugs and psychopharmacologic agents in low doses]. / Esperienze di disintossicazione e disassuefazione in eroinomani attuate tramite agopuntura, farmaci gabergici e psicofarmaci a basso dosaggio.

UNLABELLED: Presents extensive reports of detoxification and habit loosing trials in 9 male heroine addicts, 19-26 yr. The therapeutic programs were centered on gabergic drugs, low doses tricyclic antidepressants and benzodiazepines, and acupuncture (main points: 8 GB; nasal GB; 1 GB; 3 L; 4 LI; 36 S; 7 H; auricular Shen men) and were continued weekly at the Mental Health Outpatients Service, after discharge from the hospital. RESULTS: 2 Ss, personally checked, abstinent 6 months after their discharge; 4 Ss heard as abstinent and 3 Ss relapsed. Technique, course and times of the therapeutic program seem to be one of the key factors for success.

[Acupuncture, "vital" drugs and psychotropic agents in psychiatric patients. 50 cases]. / Acupuncture, medicaments "vitaux" et psychotropes chez des patients psychiatriques. 50 cas.

A therapeutical trial by means of acupuncture and "vital" drugs (1-glutamine and N-dipropylacetic acid) in 23 out of 50 psychiatric chronic patients basically depressive, and by means of acupuncture, vital drugs and psychodrugs in the remaining 27 similar patients, is carefully reported. 49 of this patients got improvement, 41 of them in a middle degree. The different neurochemical curcuits (GABA-ergic, glutamergic, adrenergic, noradrenergic, serotoninergic and dopaminergic) put in balance by such therapeutical association have been discussed.

[Acupunctura, "vital" drugs and psychopharmacological agents in the treatment of psychiatric patients with deep depressive disorders, with considerations on the probable neurophysiological mechanisms of the synergism of action]. / Agopuntura, farmaci "vitali" e psicofarmaci nel trattamento di pazienti psichiatrici a struttura depressiva di fodo, con alcune considerazioni sui probabili meccanismi neurofisiologici della sinergia di azione.

Personal clinical experience in 36 psychiatric patients with true or masqued depression, receiving a combined treatment of acupuncture (in traditional and auricolar suprarenalic points), "vital" drugs (DPA 300-900 mg/die; l-glutamine 250-500 mg/die) and psycho-drugs (amitryptiline 50 mg/die; clomipramine 10-30 mg/die; diazepam 2-20 mg/die; haloperidol 2 mg/die) is described. 35 out of 36 cases improved by such therapy. Possible synergic mechanisms leading to a considerable reduction of usual phychodrugs, and attenuating or eliminating various side effects are finally discussed.