Park Dong-Suk, Huh Jeung-Eun, Baek Yong-Hyeon
Department of Acupuncture & Moxibustion, East-West Neo Medical Center, KyungHee University, Gangdong-gu, Seoul 134-727, Republic of Korea.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2009 Sep 7;125(2):207-17. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2009.07.010. Epub 2009 Jul 18.
Aralia cordata has been used to alleviate symptoms of osteoarthritis (OA) in traditional medicine. However, there is no in vivo study related with the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of Aralia cordata. On the basis of this background, our study was designed to examine the cartilage protective and proliferative effects of Aralia cordata by using a collagenase-induced osteoarthritis (CIA) rabbit model.
The right knees of rabbits were injected intra-articularly with collagenase, and rabbits were orally administered with distilled water (vehicle), Aralia cordata (200mg/kg) and celecoxib (100mg/kg) once a day for 28 days after the initiation of the CIA.
In histopathologic studying by using H&E and Safranin O staining, Aralia cordata showed a cartilage protective effect in CIA rabbit femoral condyle. However, celecoxib had no effect on cartilage protection in CIA. The inflammatory mediators involved in cartilage destruction, such as COX-2 and PGE(2), were inhibited in the Aralia cordata-treated group. Aralia cordata also showed an anti-apoptotic effect through suppression of caspase-3 activity and chondrocyte proliferation induction in both in vivo and in vitro.
These results indicate that Aralia cordata showed cartilage protective effects through the down-regulations of COX-2 expression, PGE(2) production, caspase-3 activity, and chondrocyte proliferation in the CIA rabbit model.
在传统医学中，食用土当归已被用于缓解骨关节炎（OA）症状。然而，目前尚无关于食用土当归治疗效果及作用机制的体内研究。基于此背景，我们的研究旨在通过胶原酶诱导的骨关节炎（CIA）兔模型，研究食用土当归对软骨的保护和增殖作用。
给兔右膝关节腔内注射胶原酶，在诱导CIA后，每天给兔口服蒸馏水（赋形剂）、食用土当归（200mg/kg）和塞来昔布（100mg/kg），持续28天。
在使用苏木精-伊红（H&E）和番红O染色进行组织病理学研究时，食用土当归在CIA兔股骨髁中显示出软骨保护作用。然而，塞来昔布对CIA中的软骨保护无作用。在食用土当归治疗组中，参与软骨破坏的炎症介质，如COX-2和PGE(2)，受到抑制。食用土当归在体内和体外还通过抑制caspase-3活性和诱导软骨细胞增殖显示出抗凋亡作用。
这些结果表明，在CIA兔模型中，食用土当归通过下调COX-2表达、PGE(2)生成、caspase-3活性和软骨细胞增殖，显示出软骨保护作用。
