Hubei Key Laboratory of Natural Medicinal Chemistry and Resource Evaluation, Tongji School of Pharmacy, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Jan 27;133(2):573-82. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2010.10.035. Epub 2010 Oct 26.
Arisaema rhizomatum C.E.C. Fischer (ARCF), called as "Xuelijian", a local herb just growing in China, has been used as a traditional ethnic Chinese medicine for long because of its remarkable activity to alleviate pain and inflammation for patients suffering from rheumatism among the people with weak side-effect. However, rare study on the anti-arthritic activity of ARCF has been reported in vivo. The aim of this study is to investigate the protective effect of the herb on collagen-induced arthritis in mice and explore the potential immunological mechanisms.
CIA was induced in male BALB/c mice by been subcutaneously injected type II bovine collagen (CII) for twice. The combined MeOH extract (ME) of ARCF rhizome was successively partitioned into four fractions with petroleum ether (PE), ethyl acetate (EE), n-butyl alcohol (n-BE) and water (WE). After the second collagen immunization, mice were administered orally with different doses of ME, EE and n-BE (ME 130, 261, 522 mg kg(-1); EE 10.2, 20.4, 40.8 mg kg(-1); n-BE 52, 104, 208 mg kg(-1)) every other day for 3 weeks. The progression of edema of paws and knee joints was inspected by using a vernier calliper every 3 days from the 10th day after the first injection to the end of the experiment. The spleen index was measured and the knee joint destruction was observed by pathological sections. Levels of inflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-33 (IL-33 or IL-1F11) and rheumatoid factor (RF) in serum were measured by ELISA.
Administration of ME, EE and n-BE significantly suppressed paws and joints swelling and reduced the spleen indexes. Pathological examination demonstrated that ARCF effectively protected anklebone and cartilage from being eroded versus vehicle-treated mice. Moreover, the serum levels of inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-33 and RF were markedly lowered in ARCF treated groups compared with the control group (p<0.05).
Our studies demonstrate that administration of ARCF is obviously suppressed the progression of CIA. The anti-arthritic effectiveness of ARCF will make the herb a strong candidate for further clinical trials on RA patients.
阿利山萆薢（ARCF），俗称“雪莲花”，是一种仅在中国生长的本地草药，由于其对缓解风湿患者疼痛和炎症的显著作用，长期以来一直被用作传统中药。然而，目前还鲜有关于 ARCF 的体内抗关节炎活性的研究。本研究旨在探讨该草药对胶原诱导性关节炎（CIA）小鼠的保护作用，并探讨其潜在的免疫机制。
通过皮下注射 II 型牛胶原蛋白（CII）对雄性 BALB/c 小鼠进行两次 CIA 诱导。成功将 ARCF 根茎的甲醇提取物（ME）依次分配到石油醚（PE）、乙酸乙酯（EE）、正丁醇（n-BE）和水（WE）四个部分。第二次胶原免疫后，小鼠分别口服给予不同剂量的 ME、EE 和 n-BE（ME 130、261、522 mg/kg；EE 10.2、20.4、40.8 mg/kg；n-BE 52、104、208 mg/kg），每两天一次，共 3 周。从第一次注射后的第 10 天到实验结束，每隔 3 天用游标卡尺检查爪子和膝关节的肿胀进展情况。测量脾脏指数，并通过病理切片观察膝关节破坏情况。采用 ELISA 法测定血清中炎症细胞因子肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）、白细胞介素-1β（IL-1β）、白细胞介素-6（IL-6）、白细胞介素-33（IL-33 或 IL-1F11）和类风湿因子（RF）的水平。
ME、EE 和 n-BE 给药显著抑制了爪子和关节肿胀，并降低了脾脏指数。病理检查表明，与对照组相比，ARCF 有效保护了踝关节和软骨免受侵蚀。此外，与对照组相比，ARCF 治疗组血清中炎症细胞因子 TNF-α、IL-1β、IL-6、IL-33 和 RF 的水平明显降低（p<0.05）。
本研究表明，ARCF 的给药明显抑制了 CIA 的进展。ARCF 的抗关节炎作用使其成为进一步临床试验治疗 RA 患者的有力候选药物。
