To observe the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) on synovia IL-1beta and TNF-alpha contents in rabbits with knee osteoarthritis (KOA).
A total of 40 New Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into control, model, massage and EA groups. KOA model was established by gypsum fixing method. EA (2 Hz, 1-3 mA) was applied to left "Xiyan" (EX-LE 5), "Yanglingquan" (GB 34), "Xuehai" (SP 10), "Zusanli" (ST 36) and "Liangqiu" (ST 34) for 30 min, once daily and continuously for 21 days. For massage group, the affected knee joint was pressed, kneaded, stretched and rotated repeatedly for 15 min every time, followed by forced running about 100 m. The intra-joint synovia was collected (0.4-0.6 mL) for detecting the contents of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha with radioimmunoassay.
No IL-1beta and TNF-alpha were detected in the synovia in control group, while in the other 3 groups, synovia IL-1beta and TNF-alpha levels increased significantly. Before treatment, no significant differences were found among model, EA and massage groups in the levels of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha (P > 0.05), while after the treatment the two indexes both decreased considerably (P < 0.05). Compared with model group, the two indexes were remarkably lower (P < 0.05), but no significant differences were found between EA and massage groups in synovia IL-1beta and TNF-alpha contents (P > 0.05).
Both EA and massage can effectively suppress the release of synovia IL-1beta and TNF-alpha in KOA of rabbits, which may contribute to the effect of acupuncture in the treatment of osteoarthritis.