Uryu Noriko, Okada Kaoru, Kawakita Kenji
Department of Physiology, Meiji University of Oriental Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Acupunct Med. 2007 Dec;25(4):175-83. doi: 10.1136/aim.25.4.175.
The analgesic effects of moxibustion on an experimental model of osteoarthritis of the knee were investigated.
Male Wistar rats (n=36, 296-421 g) were used. Intra-articular injection of mono-iodoacetic acid (MIA) was performed to induce knee osteoarthritis. Indirect moxibustion was applied to the lateral aspect of the knee joint every other day for 28 days (14 treatments). Weight bearing of the hind legs was measured directly by the downward pressure applied to footplates, using an Incapacitance Tester. Morphine was injected for testing the validity of weight bearing as a pain measure, and naloxone was used to examine the participation of endogenous opioids in the mechanism of moxibustion analgesia. Data were analysed by calculating the area under the curve.
Injection of MIA significantly reduced weight bearing. No analgesic effects of moxibustion were observed during the initial 7 days (unpaired t test, P=0.83). Continued moxibustion treatments increased weight bearing at the 14th day significantly, and this effect continued until the end of the experiment on the 28th day (P<0.05). A single moxibustion treatment had no immediate effect on weight bearing. The analgesia due to the cumulative effect of moxibustion was antagonised by naloxone injection. Morphine injection in control MIA injected rats increased weight bearing to the normal range, confirming the validity of the measurements.
These results highlight the importance of repeated moxibustion treatments for pain relief in experimental knee osteoarthritis and suggest the existence of sustained inhibitory modulation by endogenous opioids in the moxibustion group.
研究艾灸对膝骨关节炎实验模型的镇痛作用。
使用雄性Wistar大鼠（n = 36，体重296 - 421克）。通过关节内注射单碘乙酸（MIA）诱导膝骨关节炎。每隔一天对膝关节外侧进行间接艾灸，共28天（14次治疗）。使用无损伤测试仪通过施加在脚板上的向下压力直接测量后腿的负重。注射吗啡以测试负重作为疼痛指标的有效性，并使用纳洛酮检查内源性阿片类物质在艾灸镇痛机制中的参与情况。通过计算曲线下面积分析数据。
注射MIA显著降低了负重。在最初7天未观察到艾灸的镇痛作用（未配对t检验，P = 0.83）。持续艾灸治疗在第14天显著增加了负重，并且这种效果持续到第28天实验结束（P < 0.05）。单次艾灸治疗对负重没有立即影响。艾灸累积效应引起的镇痛作用被注射纳洛酮拮抗。在注射MIA的对照大鼠中注射吗啡使负重增加到正常范围，证实了测量的有效性。
这些结果突出了重复艾灸治疗对实验性膝骨关节炎疼痛缓解的重要性，并表明艾灸组中存在内源性阿片类物质的持续抑制性调节。
