To explore the influence of acupuncture treatment on proinflammatory cytokines of osteoarthritic (OA) cartilage.
Forty female SD rats were randomly and averagely divided into four groups: the normal, model, acupuncture and control group. The method of heel tendon resection for unilateral hind limb was used to establish OA animal models-that was to cut off the rat's heel tendon of left hind limb. The acupuncture group and control group were respectively treated by electro-acupuncture and Diclofenac on right hind limb of each animal for 2 weeks. Immunohistochemical staining was used to observe the expression characteristic of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha in cartilage of each group,and the differences were compared among the groups.
Both IL-1beta and TNF-alpha expression in model group were significantly up-regulated than those in the normal group (P<0.01). Their expression in model, acupuncture and control group were significantly different (P< 0.01). IL-1beta and TNF-alpha expression were significantly down-regulated in acupuncture and control group than that in model group (P<0.01), while the difference between the two former groups was not significant (P>0.05).
Acupuncture can down-regulate the expression of IL-1beta and TNF-alpha in osteoarthritic chondrocytes, and the regulating effect is the same as Diclofenac. This shows that acupuncture has a certain protective effect on osteoarthritic cartilage.