Li Jia, Li Jing, Tang Hong-Tu, Zhu Guang-Wei
Hubei Provincial Collaborative Innovation Center of Preventive Acu-moxibustion Treatment, College of Acu-moxibustion and Orthopedics, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430061, China.
Department of Acu-moxibustion, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Scie-nce and Technology, Wuhan 430061.
Zhen Ci Yan Jiu. 2016 Jun 25;41(3):215-9.
To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) intervention on inflammatory reactions and articular synovial nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and TNF-α converting enzyme (TACE) protein expression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) rats, so as to elucidate its anti-inflammatory mechanism.
Forty Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into normal control, model, EA, and non-acupoint groups, with 10 rats in each group. The RA model was established by intradermal injection of bovine type Ⅱ collagen emulsified in incomplete Freund's adjuvant for 21 days. EA (2 Hz, 1 mA) was applied to bilateral "Zusanli" (ST 36), "Xuanzhong" (GB 39) and "Shenshu" (BL 23) for 15 min, once daily for 19 days, starting from the third day on after modeling. The sham acupoints (5 mm lateral to the above-mentioned acupoints) received the same stimulation to EA group. Paw swelling volume was detected using a water-filled glass mug, the serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and rheumatoid factor (RF) contents were assayed using velocity scatter turbidimetric method, and the plasma erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was assayed with Westergren method and VES-MATIC 20 ESR auto-analyzer and the expression levels of TACE and NF-κB proteins in the synovial tissue of knee joint were detected by Western blot.
After RA modeling, the hind-paw volume was significantly bigger in the RA rats than in the normal rats (<0.01), and remarkably lower in the EA group (not in the non-acupoint group) than in the model group (<0.05). In addition, the plasma ESR, serum CRP and RF contents and the expression levels of NF-κB and TACE proteins in the synovial tissues were significantly increased in the model group compared with those in the normal group (<0.01), and were obviously down-regulated in the EA group (<0.05), but not in the non-acupoint group (>0.05).
EA can effectively improve the severity of articular inflammatory swelling and lo-wer ESR, serum CRP and RF contents and suppress synovial TACE/NF-κB protein signaling in RA rats.
观察电针干预对类风湿关节炎（RA）大鼠炎症反应及关节滑膜核因子κB（NF-κB）和肿瘤坏死因子-α转换酶（TACE）蛋白表达的影响，以阐明其抗炎机制。
将40只Sprague-Dawley（SD）大鼠随机分为正常对照组、模型组、电针组和非穴位组，每组10只。采用皮内注射牛Ⅱ型胶原乳化于不完全弗氏佐剂中21天建立RA模型。从造模后第3天开始，电针（2 Hz，1 mA）双侧“足三里”（ST 36）、“悬钟”（GB 39）和“肾俞”（BL 23）15分钟，每日1次，共19天。假穴位（上述穴位外侧5 mm）给予与电针组相同的刺激。使用盛水玻璃杯检测爪肿胀体积，采用速率散射比浊法检测血清C反应蛋白（CRP）和类风湿因子（RF）含量，采用魏氏法和VES-MATIC 20 ESR自动分析仪检测血浆红细胞沉降率（ESR），并通过蛋白质印迹法检测膝关节滑膜组织中TACE和NF-κB蛋白的表达水平。
RA造模后，RA大鼠后爪体积明显大于正常大鼠（<0.01），电针组（而非非穴位组）明显低于模型组（<0.05）。此外，与正常组相比，模型组血浆ESR、血清CRP和RF含量以及滑膜组织中NF-κB和TACE蛋白表达水平显著升高（<0.01），电针组明显下调（<0.05），而非穴位组无明显变化（>0.05）。
电针可有效改善RA大鼠关节炎症肿胀的严重程度，降低ESR、血清CRP和RF含量，并抑制滑膜TACE/NF-κB蛋白信号通路。
