An experimental study on intra-articular injection of triptolide nanomaterials for the treatment of rabbit arthritis / 中华风湿病学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the therapeutic effect of intra-articular injection of triptolide nanomaterials on rabbit antigen-induced knee arthritis.Methods:Twenty-seven New Zealand white rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups. After antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) model were induced, the knee joints of triptolide nanomaterials (TPNA) group, triptolide (TP) group and betamethasone (BS) group were injected intra-articularly under ultrasound guidance with triptolide nanomaterials, triptolide and betamethasone respectively, 7 rabbits in each group. And the other 6 rabbits were punctured but not injected with any drugs as the control group. The pathological changes of joint swelling, synovitis and bone erosion were examined. Student's test, repeated measure data of analysis of variance (ANOVA), Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal- Wallis test were used for statistical analysis. Results:① Before treatment, the knee joint diameters of the TPNA group, TP group, BS group and control group were (2.02±0.08) cm, (2.08±0.06) cm, (2.10±0.06) cm and (2.18±0.07) cm, respectively. After one week of administration, the knee joint diameters of the above groups were (1.85±0.06) cm, (1.89±0.07) cm, (1.93±0.08) cm and (2.15±0.08) cm, respectively. Knee joint swelling was significantly reduced in each treated group after a week of intra-articular injection. With the extension of treatment, the diameter of rabbit knee joints in each experimental group gradually decreased gradually ( F=58.83, P<0.01; F=53.78, P<0.01; F=68.24, P<0.01), and the diameter of rabbit knee joints in the TP group, TPNA group and BS group was significantly smaller than that of the control group ( F=63.83, P<0.01; F=71.94, P<0.01; F=140.79, P<0.01). ② The synovitis score of TP group was lower than that of the control group ( Z=-2.082, P<0.05), which was mainly mild synovitis. While the synovitis scores of TPNA group and BS group were lower than that of TP group ( Z=-2.082, P<0.05; Z=-2.687, P<0.05), most of which were free from synovitis. There was no statistical significant difference between BS group and TPNA group ( Z=-1.000, P>0.05). ③ The pathological scores of bone destruction in the TPNA group, TP group and BS group were all reduced compared with the control group ( Z=-2.505, P<0.05; Z=-2.216, P<0.05; Z=-2.505, P<0.05). There was no statistical significant difference between the TPNA group, TP group and BS group ( χ2=0.588, P>0.05). Conclusion:Intra-articular injection of triptolide nanomaterials can relieve joint swelling, reduce synovitis, and delay bone erosion. Its effect is similiar to glucocorticoid, better than simple triptolide. Triptolide nanomaterials have the potential to be an effective drug for arthritis by intra-articular injection.