电针干预膝骨关节炎过程中转化生长因子β的调控作用

背景：电针治疗膝骨关节炎具有良好的中枢和外周镇痛作用。研究显示转化生长因子β仡膝骨关节炎发生中具有重要作用。目的：从转化生长因子β调控角度，认识电针治疗膝骨关节炎的可能作用机制。方法：健康3月龄雄性SD大鼠，随机分为正常组、模型组、电针组和药物组。通过结扎大鼠股静脉并强迫运动的方法，建立膝骨关节炎动物模型。造模1个月后，电针组刺激内膝眼（Ex-LE4）和犊鼻（ST35）穴位，深0.1寸，脉冲2Hz刺激20min，1次药物组为关节腔内注射药物透明质酸钠，0.1mL/次，1次/周。治疗2周后，采集各组动物膝关节滑膜组织，观察转化生长因子β、转化生长因子β1受体I、转化生长凶子β受体II的表达。结果与结论：膝关节骨关节炎动物膝关节滑膜中转化生长因子β1水平增加（P〈0.05），经电针或透明质酸钠治疗后，膝关竹滑膜中转化生长因子β1水平降低（P〈0.05），且转化生长因子β1受体I，II含量出现显著降低（P〈0.05）。提示电针治疗膝骨关节炎是通过下调转化生长因子β1的含量来改善骨关节炎症状的，受体含量的减少何助于膝骨关节炎的恢复。

Regulatory effects of transforming growth factor beta in electro-acupuncture treatment of knee osteoarthris

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 I and TGF-β 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-{31 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-31 expression, and reduction in TGF-β1 receptor I , II expression promotes the recovery of knee osteoarthris.