| Experimental Study on Therapeutic Effect of Scutellaria Baicalensis (SB)& Glucosamine/ Chondroitin (GC) on Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA). Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA)is a systemic chronic autoimmune disease associated with progressive synovitis characterized by symmetry hyperplasia invading each joints in the body and resulting in the destruction of joint cartilage and capsule, and finally ankylosis. Besides joints, the other organs and tissues may be also involved. The prominent pathological changes are the infiltration of immunoreaction-related lymphocytes, plasmocytes and macrophages, as well as the formation of lymph follicles in joints and other organs or tissues involved. Being collagenosis, RA will lead to fibrinoid degeneration and necrosis of interstitial collagenous fibers. Although molecular biology, immunopathology and gene engineering technology have been used in the study on etiology and pathogeny of RA, the final definite conclusion is still not achieved. This leads to the difficulties in the clinical pharmacotherapy. At present, there are three groups of anti-RA drugs used in RA clinical therapy –NSAIDs, adrenocortical (ACH) and lentando drugs. With the effect of immunosuppression and anti-inflammatory, these drugs can restrain state of RA but can't impede exacerbation. Additionally, many new drugs are in research and development, such as biological production, collagen type Ⅱand tetracyclines, but the therapeutic effects of these drugs still need further verification. There is still no such drug that is worldly recognized for the control and treatment of RA. The effetive anti-RA drugs without toxic or side action are the object of pharmacologists, and also the hopes of patients. Scutellaria Baicalensis is a kind of Chinese herb with many pharmacological actions. Its main actions are antioxidation, anti-free radical, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, blocking calcium channel, inhibiting aldose reductase, anti-virus, anti-allergic reaction etc. Without any toxic or side roles, SB can protect immune, cardio-cerebral blood vessel, digestive and nerve system. Chondroitin is a kind of sulfated polysaccharide existing widely in cartilage, connective tissue, vascular wall, bladder, central neverse system, cornea and muscle tendon. Chondroitin helps maintaining soft and tenacity of joint, meanwhile, it promotes the repair of joint cartilage. Glucosamine is a kind of aminosugar in human or animal bodies. Being one of the most important nutrient in forming cartilage cells, Glucosamine distributs in cartilage and connective tissue as polysaccharide. It can promote the production of proteoglycan and collagen so as to supply articular fluid and essential substances in joint recovering after injury. Glucosamine is decomposed in amino acid which can transform into galactose and chondroitin. Moreover, glucosamine and chondroitin are all components without any toxicity of our body. Therefore, glucosamine/chondroitin has been used to relieve the discomfort of arthritis by the west for more than ten years. But there is no report on the combination therapy of SB and GC in RA treatment in the world. Our research is to study the RA therapeutic mechanism of GC and SB.Based on it, further study the prevention and cure effect of the combination of SB and GC so as to develop an effective anti-RA drug without any toxic action. According to the common steps of new drugs development, we have done animal experiments and cell experiments respectively to study the anti-RA mechanism on integrate, cellular and molecular levels. In order to investigate the therapheutic effect on RA, we chose human synovial membrane (MH7A) and human cartilage cells (C28/I2), which were stimulated to produce the cellular RA models in vitro. We observed the effects of SA and GC on expression of IL-1β, TNF-α, MMP-1 and MMP-13 mRNA. The results showed that SA had no significant effect on the expression of IL-1βin MH7A and C28/I2 cells, but down-regulated the expression of TNF-α, suggesting that SA excerts its anti-RA by inhibition of TNF-α. SB down-regulated the expressions of MMP-1 mRNA and MMP-3 mRNA in normal and RA model cells dose dependently, suggesting that the mechanism of anti-RA of SB may be through the inhibition of the production and secretion of MMP-1 from synovial membrane cells. GC also down-regulated the expression of MMP-1 mRNA, suggesting that the anti-RA may be through the same mechanism as SB does. Besides the studies in vitro, we further examined the immunological mechanism of the combination of SB and glucosamine/chondroitin on anti-RA. With the adjuvant arthritis(AA) rat models, we observed the protective effects of oral SB, glucosamine/chondroitin and Arthrigia in different concentrations on AA in rats. Our research shows that 120mg/kgSB+10mg/kgGC has preventive role, whereas SB or GC alone has... |
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