RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Moxibustion can improve the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis and reduce inflammation, but there are no uniform operation standards. The moxibustiondistance becomes one of factor influencing the therapeutic efficacy.OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of different moxibustion distances on rheumatoid arthritis, and to explore the optimal distance.METHODS: The 8 of 40 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomlyselected as controls. The other 32 were used to make animal modes of collagen type Ⅱ-induced ankle arthritis, and then given moxibustion at Shenshu (BL23) and Zusanli (ST36) at an interval of 1, 2 and 3 cm, respectively, once daily, 10 minutes at each point, 6 days per course for three courses, with a course interval of 1 day. Model rats with no treatment acted as model group.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Compared with the control group, the toe volume, arthritis index and serum levels ofinterleukin-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α except the body mass were significantly increased in the model group (P < 0.01).After moxibustion treatment, these indexes were significantly decreased in the three treatment groups (P < 0.01), especially in the 1 and 2 cm groups (P < 0.01). Narrowed articular cavity, intra-articular inflammation and pannus formation were observed in the model group, while only moderate inflammatorycell infiltration and few pannus formation were found in the 1,2, 3 cm groups. These results indicate that moxibustion improvesjoint functions and regulates immune reaction by downregulating the levels of interleukin-1β and tumor necrosisfactor-α, as well as reducing synovial hyperplasia. In addition,the optimal distance for moxibustion is 1 or 2 cm, which is amomentous proposition to improve therapeutic efficacy.
RESUMEN
Objective: To observe the effect of different moxibustion durations on rats with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to evaluate the relationship between moxibustion amount and moxibustion efficacy.Methods: Eight rats were randomly selected as a normal group from the 40 male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats, and the other 32 rats were used to establish typeⅡ collagen-induced RA models. After successful modeling, the 32 rats were randomly divided into a model group, a moxibustion for 20 min group, a moxibustion for 40 min group and a moxibustion for 60 min group, with 8 rats in each group. Rats in the normal group did not receive modeling and moxibustion intervention; rats in the model group did not receive moxibustion after modeling; rats in the moxibustion for 20 min group, the moxibustion for 40 min group and the moxibustion for 60 min group were treated with moxibustion at Shenshu (BL 23) and Zusanli (ST 36) for 20 min, 40 min and 60 min, respectively. Six days were a course of treatment, with a total of 3-course treatments and a 1-day rest between the courses of treatment. After treatment, the serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, arthritis index (AI) scores, toe volumes and pathological score of synovitis were evaluated in the rats.Results: Compared with the normal group, the serum IL-1β and TNF-α levels, and the toe volumes in the model group were increased, and the differences were statistically significant (P0.05). The synovial histopathological improvement was the most obvious in the moxibustion for 40 min group, when the synovial histopathological changes were compared among the moxibustion for 20 min group, moxibustion for 40 min group and moxibustion for 60 min group.Conclusion: The therapeutic efficacy of moxibustion for 40 min in RA rats was more significant than that of moxibustion for 20 min and moxibustion for 60 min, indicating that the duration of moxibustion is the main factor affecting its therapeutic efficacy.