Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, Rheumatology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese, Policlinico Le Scotte, 53100, Siena, Italy.
Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, Rheumatology Unit, University of Siena, Policlinico Le Scotte, Viale Bracci 1, 53100, Siena, Italy.
Int J Biometeorol. 2020 Jul;64(7):1247-1261. doi: 10.1007/s00484-020-01890-4. Epub 2020 Mar 21.
Balneotherapy (BT) is one of the most commonly used complementary therapies for many pathological conditions. Its beneficial effects are related to physical and chemical factors, but the exact mechanism of action is not fully understood. Recently, there has been an increased interest in the use of preclinical models to investigate the influence of BT on inflammation, immunity, and cartilage and bone metabolism. The objective of this comprehensive analysis was to summarize the current knowledge about the in vitro studies in BT and to revise the obtained results on the biological effects of mineral waters. Special attention has been paid to the main rheumatological and dermatological conditions, and to the regulation of the immune response. The objective of this review was to summarize the in vitro studies, on human and animal samples, investigating the biological effects of BT. In particular, we analyzed the properties of a thermal water, as a whole, of an inorganic molecule, such as hydrogen sulfide in different cell cultures (keratinocytes, synoviocytes, chondrocytes, and peripheral blood cells), or of the organic component. The results corroborated the scientific value of in vitro studies in demonstrating the anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, chondroprotective, and immunosuppressive role of BT at the cellular level. However, the validity of the cell culture model is limited by several sources of bias, as the differences in experimental procedures, the high heterogeneity among the available researches, and the difficulties in considering all the chemical and physical factors of BT. We would like to stimulate the scientific community to standardize the experimental procedures and enhance in vitro research in the field of BT.
水疗（BT）是许多病理状况最常用的补充疗法之一。其有益效果与物理和化学因素有关，但确切的作用机制尚不完全清楚。最近，人们越来越关注使用临床前模型来研究 BT 对炎症、免疫以及软骨和骨代谢的影响。本综合分析的目的是总结 BT 的体外研究的现有知识，并修订关于矿泉水的生物学效应的研究结果。特别关注主要的风湿和皮肤病况以及免疫反应的调节。本综述的目的是总结 BT 的体外研究，包括对人类和动物样本的研究，以调查 BT 的生物学效应。特别是，我们分析了热矿泉水的特性，以及不同细胞培养物（角质形成细胞、滑膜细胞、软骨细胞和外周血细胞）中的无机分子（如硫化氢）或有机成分的特性。这些结果证实了体外研究在证明 BT 在细胞水平上具有抗炎、抗氧化、软骨保护和免疫抑制作用的科学价值。然而，细胞培养模型的有效性受到几个来源的偏见的限制，如实验程序的差异、现有研究之间的高度异质性以及考虑 BT 的所有化学和物理因素的困难。我们希望激发科学界规范实验程序并加强 BT 领域的体外研究。
