RESUMO
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To compare the effects of different acupuncture methods on urine metabolites in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) rabbits, and to explore the specificity mechanism of heat-reinforcing acupuncture for RA.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A total of 40 clean purple-blue rabbits were randomly allocated to a normal group, a model group, a mild reinforcing-reducing needling (MRRN) group, a twirling-reinforcing needling (TRN) group and a heat-reinforcing needling (HRN) group, 8 rabbits in each one. Except the normal group, the rabbits in the remaining groups were treated with ovalbumin and freezing to establish RA model. The rabbits in the MRRN group, TRN group and HRN group were treated with MRRN, TRN and HRN at "Zusanli" (ST 36), respectively, 30 min per treatment, once a day for seven days. After treatment, 24-h urine was collected. The rabbits were sacrificed to collect synovial tissues of knee to perform morphology observation; the liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q/TOF-MS) was applied to measure urine metabolites. All the data were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the normal group, the leucine-related metabolites, as main urine metabolites, were decreased in the model group (<0.05), while the purine-related metabolites and tryptophane-related metabolites were increased (<0.05). Compared with the model group, the leucine-related metabolites, as main urine metabolites, were increased in the three needling groups after treatment (<0.05), while the tryptophan-related metabolites andpurine-related metabolites were decreased (<0.05), moreover, the leucine-related metabolites in the HRN group were obviously higher than those in the MRRN group and TRN gruop (<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>MRRN, TRN and HRN can regulate the pathway of leucine metabolism (energy metabolism), purine metabolism (oxidative damage) and tryptophane metabolism (immune regulation) for RA, The specificity of HRN for RA focuses on regulation of leucine metabolism (energy metabolism).</p>
RESUMO
Objective To measure the endogenous metabolites in synovial tissues of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) rabbits with cold syndrome;To investigate the specificity mechanisms of heat-reinforcing needling for RA. Methods A total of forty healthy purple blue rabbits were randomly allocated to normal group, model group, reinforcing-reducing needling group (RRN), twirling-reinforcing needling group (TRN) and heat-reinforcing needling group (HRN) 8 rabbits in each group. Arthritis rabbits cold model was made with ovalbumin and freezing. Except for normal groupand model group, RRN was given acupuncture of reinforcing-reducing needling at Zusanli (ST36), TRN was given acupuncture of twirling-reinforcing needling at Zusanli (ST36), HRN was administrated acupuncture of heat-reinforcing needling at Zusanli (ST36), once a day and retaining 30 min, a total of seven days. Fresh synovial tissues of rabbits knee joints were extracted after the intervention, then GC-Q/TOF-MS technology were employed to evaluate metabolic profiles. Results The synovial tissues metabolites of TCA cycle, carbohydrate and fatty acid metabolism in model group mainly increased compared with normal group (P<0.05); The synovial tissues metabolites of various kinds above-mentioned decreased compared with model group in all intervention of acupuncture group (P<0.05), and the metabolites of TCA cycle and carbohydrate metabolism in HRN were obviously less than that of RRN and TRN (P<0.05). Conclusion The specificity of heat-reinforcing needling for RA manifests in regulation of TCA cycle and carbohydrate metabolism.