COMPARISON OF DISULFIDE/THIOL HOMEOSTASIS AS A BIOMARKER OF OXIDATIVE STRESS IN HIJAMA BLOOD AND VENOUS BLOOD

Abstract

Hijama or wet cupping therapy is a traditional alternative medicine method which is administered as a treatment against many diseases over the years, especially in Muslim countries and China. Epidermal tissue is gently drawn and put on a cup over drawn area so “bad” blood is sucked by the help of the vacuum or heat and collected in cup for cleaning cardiovascular system in Hijama. Individuals’ pains relive or pull through the disease with the aid of Hijama. In this study we aimd to determined disulfide/thiol homeostasis as a biomarker of oxidative stress and comparing the level of disulfide/thiol homeostasis in Hijama blood and venous blood. 16 blood sample collected in total, 8 of them collected by the way of Hijama and the other 8 blood obtained through venisection in present study. The concentrations of tiol and disulfide were determined with a novel spectrophotometric automated measurement method. The results showed that the disulfide/thiol homeostasis is significantly higher in Hijama blood than venous blood. Consequently, we can say that Hijama therapy could be useful for get rid of the “bad” blood in body and Hijama blood is better indicator than venous blood for determining the oxidative stress biomarkers.