The mechanisms of As_2O_3 in treating rheumatoid arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the possible mechanisms of Arsenic Trioxide in treating rheumatoid arthritis(RA)by observing the changes of HE staining and NF-KB expression as well as the apoptosis of syn- oviocytes in adjuvant-induced arthritis rats.Methods After the animal model was set up on Wistar rats sue- cessfully,they were randomly divided into AA model group and arsenic trioxide treatment group.The treat- ment group were injected with 4 mg'kg~(-1)9?d~(-1)arsenic trioxid fluid for 7 days.All of the rats were killed 3 days after the complete of injections.The joint specimens were exposed,fixed,decalcified,wrapped and cut into slices.All slices were examined by HE stain and immunohistological evaluation.Results HE staining showed that when compared with the normal control group,the layers of synoviocytes of the AA group were increased to 6-8,and the arrangement of synoviocytes was disordered and heavy inflammatory cell infiltration were found in the AA group.In the arsenic trioxide treatment group,the layers of synoviocytes increased to 3～4,and medi- um amount of inflammatory cell infiltration were found.The intensity of synovial NF-kB(p65)positive stain in AA model group was significantly higher than that in the normal control group.The synovial expression and ac- tivation of NF-kB in the treatment group were decreased markedly,and did not return to normal level.The average gray scale calculation showed that there were significant differences between the three groups(P