ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Reumatoid arthritis (RA) is a well-known autoimmune disease. Recently, polyglycosides of tripterygium wilfordii hook F (T Ⅱ), a traditional Chinese herb, has been widely used to treat rheumatoid arthritis.But the effects of TⅡ on the joints' synovium inflammation and whether TⅡcan prevent the reumatoid arthritis need to be investigated further.OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of T Ⅱ on the relative data of ankle joints of adjuvant arthritis (AA) rats.DESIGN: A randomized controlled experiment based on rats. SETTING: Departments of Histology and Embryology and Neurobiology, West China School of Preclinical and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University. MATERIALS: A total of 20 healthy clean grade female SD rats, aged 2 to 3 months old, weighing 185-215 g, were provided by the Experimental Animal Center of West China Medical Center of Sichuan University. Fre und's complete adjuvant (FCA) was produced by Sigma Company. TⅡ was produced by Zhuzhou 3rd pharmacy of Hunan Province (certification number: 2005 No 055172, 10 mg/pill).METHODS: The experiment was completed in Department of Histology and Embryology and Neurobiology in Sichuan University from May 2004 to March 2005. ① All the 20 rats were randomly divided into 4 groups with 5 rats in each group by lots: normal group, without Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA) injection and TⅡ administration; model group, with FCA intradermal injection (0.2 mL) into the left hind paw and without TⅡ administration; TⅡ preventive group, first we use the same way as model group to replicate the AA model in rats, then on the 7th day AA rats were feed by TⅡ 30 mg/kg every day for 7 days; TⅡ therapeutic group, AA rats model were built with the same way as model group, on the 19th day AA rats were feed by TⅡ 30 mg/kg every day for 7 days. During this period, the swelling dimension of hind paw both primary and secondary are mea sured before immunization with FCA and after immunization, that was, on the 2nd, 10th, 15th, 19th, 22nd and 26th days. ② Arthritis index have been recorded according to inflammatory state of other three uninjected limbs.③ On the 28th day, all the rats were killed, the ankle joints are collected after perfusion-fixation. These joints were sectioned and colorated with H. E staining. Then we observe the histopathological changes in the synovium of ankle joints. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Swelling dimension of joints and arthritis index, histopathology of anklebone joint's synovium. RESULTS: All of the 20 rats completed the experiment without missing. ① On the 2nd day after FCA injection, the primary hind paw of other three groups beside normal group appeared obvious swelling; from 2nd to 26th days, the volume of hind paw in other three groups was larger than that of normal group (t=2.315-3.041, P ＜ 0.05). The volume of primary hind paw in TⅡ preventive group at different time points (10th, 15th, 19th, 22nd and 26th days) was obviously less than that of model group (t=2.064-2.683, P ＜ 0.05). The volume of primary hind paw in TⅡ therapeutic group on the 22nd and 26th days was less than that of model group (t=2.112-2.578, P ＜ 0.05). Fifteen days after FCA injection, the volume of secondary hind paw in model group and T Ⅱ therapeutic group was larger than that of normal group (t=2.201-2.546, P ＜ 0.05). On the 15th, 19th, 22nd and 26th days, the volume of secondary hind paw in T Ⅱ preventive group was obviously less than that of model group (t=2.373-2.425, P ＜ 0.05). The volume of secondary hind paw in T Ⅱ therapeutic group on the 26th day was obviously less than model group (P ＜ 0.05). ② On the 14th day after FCA injection(after T Ⅱ preventive administration for 7 days), arthritis index of model group was (8.3±2.0) points, while arthritis index of TⅡ preventive group was (0.4±0.95) points (t=2.64, P ＜ 0.05), there was an obvious decline in T Ⅱ preventive group compared with model group. On the 26th day after FCA injection (after TⅡ therapeutic administration for 7 days), arthritis index of model group was (11.2±0.7), whileinflammatory disease in AA rats and prevent the secondary arthritis in the rats of AA as well.
ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the possible roles of the different subnuclei of hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus （PNV） which may regulate splenic immune function. Methods 4 SD rats received splenic injection of pseudorabies virus（PRV）.96 hours after injection， a block containing hypothalamus was taken and cut into 40 μm sections with cryostat. Immunohistochemical technique and stereology method were used to detect the distributing character of transsynaptic PRV infection neurons in the PVN and the localization relationship between PRV neurons and AVP neurons in the PVN.Results Transsynaptic PRV infection neurons distributed through out the PVN， but mainly concentrated in the lateral parvocellular （LP） subnucleus of PVN and posterior magnocellular （PM） subnuclei of PVN （occupied 73.49％ of total surface area），a few distributed in the anterior， dorsal and periventricular parvocellular （AP，DP and PP）nuclei of PVN，few scatted in the rest of nuclei of PVN. In the LP and PM some of the PRV neurons distributed among the AVP neurons.Conclusions Besides the classical neuro-immuno-endocrine modulation， the PVN may regulate the splenic immune function through direct innervation .The AVP neurons in the PM and neurons projecting to the proganglionic neurons in the dorsal medulla and lateral horn of spinal cord in the LP，DP and AP regulate the immune function of spleen through sympathetic and para-sympathetic innovation.