Regulatory effects of transforming growth factor beta in electro-acupuncture treatment of knee osteoarthris / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Electro-acupuncture therapy shows good central and peripheral analgesic effects. Several studies have shown that transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of knee osteoarthritis. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mechanism underlying electro-acupuncture treatment of knee osteoarthritis. METHODS: A total of 80 healthy male 3-month-old Sprague Dawley rats were randomly and evenly divided into normal, model, electro-acupuncture and drug groups. Rat models of knee osteoarthris were estbalished by ligating the femoral veins and forcing rats to do activies. At 1 month after knee osteoarthris induction, the electro-acupuncture group rats received electro-acupuncture therapy at two acupoints Neixiyan (EX-LE4) and Dubi (ST 35) with a depth of 0.1 cun (pulse 2 Hz, 20 minutes, once a day). The drug group rats were intraarticularly administerd sodium hyaluronate (0.1 mL/administration, once a week). After 2-week treatment, synovial tissue of the knee joint was harvested to determine the exprssion of TGF-β1, TGF-β1 receptor Ⅰand TGF-β1 receptor Ⅱ. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: TGF-β1 expression in synovial tissue of the knee joint was significantly increased after knee osteoarthris (P < 0.05), but after electro-accupuncture therepy or sodium hyaluronate treatment, TGF-β1 expression was significantly decreased (P < 0.05), moreover, TGF-β1 receptor Ⅰ, Ⅱ expression was signficantly decreased (P < 0.05). These findings suggest that electro-acupuncture for treatment of knee osteoartheis improves the symptoms of osteoarthris by downregulating TGF-β1 expression, and reduction in TGF-β1 receptor Ⅰ, Ⅱ expression promotes the recovery of knee osteoarthris.