Yeom Mi-Jung, Lee Han-Chang, Kim Gun-Ho, Shim Insop, Lee Hye-Jung, Hahm Dae-Hyun
Department of Oriental Medical Science, Graduate School of East-West Medical Science, Kyung Hee University, Korea.
Biol Pharm Bull. 2003 Oct;26(10):1472-7. doi: 10.1248/bpb.26.1472.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by chronic inflammation of the synovial membrane in the joint, which leads to the progressive destruction of articular cartilage, ligament and bone. Several cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin 1beta (IL-1beta), and interleukin 6 (IL-6) have been implicated in the pathological mechanisms of synovial tissue proliferation, joint destruction and programmed cell death in rheumatoid joint. In the Korean traditional medicine, Hominis placenta (HP) as an herbal component of herb-acupuncture has been widely used to treat chronic inflammatory diseases such as RA. To study the therapeutic effects of HP injection into the ST36 acupoint (HP herb-acupuncture) on the inflammatory responses of a subchondral region of rheumatoid joint, the polyarthritis-induced Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat was developed as a rheumatoid arthritis model by the intradermal injection of dried cells of Mycobacterium tuberculosis emulsified in squalene to the base of tail. After the onset stage (11 d after adjuvant injection) of polyarthritis, a fixed volume of HP extract was daily injected to Zusanli (ST36) acupoint on the rat's leg for 2 weeks. The body weight, paw volume of the knee joint and articular index were exploited as an assessment method addressing arthritic symptoms, and the expression profiles of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta and IL-6 at the subchondral bone of the joint were analyzed using an immunohistochemistry. After the treatment of arthritic rats with HP, the body weights and paw volumes of arthritic rats were almost restored to the levels of normal rats whereas the evaluation by the articular index was not remarkable. The TNF-alpha, IL-1beta and IL-6 positive cells in the immunohistological sections of subchondral bone region of the joint significantly decreased in HP-treated (ST36 acupoint) arthritic group as compared with those in non-treated or HP-treated (non-acupoint) ones, which was coincident with the behavioral studies. In conclusion, the HP herb-acupuncture was found to be effective to alleviate the arthritic symptoms in adjuvant-induced arthritis rats as regards the body weight, joint appearance and the expression profiles of inflammatory cytokines.
类风湿性关节炎（RA）的特征是关节滑膜的慢性炎症，这会导致关节软骨、韧带和骨骼的渐进性破坏。几种细胞因子，如肿瘤坏死因子α（TNF-α）、白细胞介素1β（IL-1β）和白细胞介素6（IL-6），与类风湿关节滑膜组织增殖、关节破坏和程序性细胞死亡的病理机制有关。在韩国传统医学中，人胎盘（HP）作为药草针灸的一种草药成分，已被广泛用于治疗类风湿性关节炎等慢性炎症性疾病。为了研究将HP注射到ST36穴位（HP药草针灸）对类风湿关节软骨下区域炎症反应的治疗效果，通过将结核分枝杆菌干燥细胞乳化在角鲨烯中皮内注射到尾基部，建立了多关节炎诱导的Sprague-Dawley（SD）大鼠类风湿性关节炎模型。在多关节炎发病阶段（佐剂注射后11天），每天将固定体积的HP提取物注射到大鼠腿部的足三里（ST36）穴位，持续2周。将体重、膝关节爪体积和关节指数用作评估关节炎症状的方法，并使用免疫组织化学分析关节软骨下骨中TNF-α、IL-1β和IL-6的表达谱。用HP治疗关节炎大鼠后，关节炎大鼠的体重和爪体积几乎恢复到正常大鼠的水平，而关节指数评估结果不显著。与未治疗或HP治疗（非穴位）组相比，HP治疗（ST36穴位）关节炎组关节软骨下骨区域免疫组织学切片中TNF-α、IL-1β和IL-6阳性细胞显著减少，这与行为学研究结果一致。总之，就体重、关节外观和炎性细胞因子表达谱而言，发现HP药草针灸可有效减轻佐剂诱导的关节炎大鼠的关节炎症状。
