J. Appl. Biomed. 4: 115–122, 2006 ISSN 1214-0287 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Improvement of the interleukin 2 and tumour necrosis factor α release by blood leukocytes as well as of plasma cortisol and antioxidant levels after acupuncture treatment in women suffering anxiety Lorena Arranz, León Siboni, Mónica De la Fuente Department of Animal Physiology II, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain Received 12 th January 2006. Revised 14 th March 2006. Published online 10 th April 2006. Summary In the context of psychoneuroimmunology, which studies the complex interactions between the nervous system and the immune system, anxiety-causing situations affect the immune function leading to its impairment, whereas acupuncture provides the possibility of improving it via its action on the nervous system. Therefore, the aim of the present work was to study, in anxious adult women, the effect of an acupuncture treatment specifically designed to relieve their symptoms, on several parameters known to be altered in disturbed emotional situations. These include the release by blood leukocytes of the cytokines interleukin-2 (IL-2) and tumour necrosis factor-alfa (TNF-α), as well as the plasma cortisol levels and total antioxidant capacity. The results show regulation by acupuncture of all the studied parameters, as early as 72 hours after one single acupuncture session. Thus, the levels of IL-2, which were decreased in women with anxiety, increase following acupuncture, and the levels of TNF-α and cortisol, which were increased in these patients, decrease after the session. Therefore, acupuncture could exert its therapeutic action on anxiety by modulation of a number of parameters including those examined in the present work. Key words: anxiety – acupuncture – cytokines – cortisol – total antioxidant levels – women _________________________________________  Mónica De la Fuente, Department of Physiology (Animal Physiology II), Faculty of Biological Sciences, Complutense University of Madrid, José Antonio Novais 2, 28040 Madrid, Spain  00 34 91 394 49 89  00 34 91 394 49 35  mondelaf@bio.ucm.es _________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Presently, it is accepted that the neuroendocrine and the immune system show a bidirectional communication mediated by shared chemical messengers and receptors, and thus both are involved in the preservation of homeostasis and therefore of health (Blalock 1994). Accordingly, if one of these two systems suffers alterations, this influences the other, and therapeutic interventions on one of these systems have an effect on the other. In fact, psychoneuroimmunology is the field of research that deals with the complex interactions