[Status of the pituitary-adrenal and cholinergic system of patients with a pain syndrome in spinal osteochondrosis before and after a course of reflexotherapy].

The pituitary-adrenal and cholinergic systems were studied in 57 patients with chronic pain related to vertebral osteochondrosis before and after an acupuncture course. The degree of the therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture (EAP) was found to correlate with the nature of changes in the level of the spontaneous secretion of aldosterone and intensity of the process of acetylcholine (AC) release. Most patients in whom the treatment was followed by the recovery of the physiologic level of the initially depressed secretion of aldosterone and a clear-cut decrease in the initially elevated AC concentrations showed good clinical response. In patients in whom the initially elevated levels of aldosterone and AC failed to decline or in whom there was an even greater increase in AC concentrations, the therapeutic effect of EAP procedures was insignificant and short-lived.