Effect On Peripheral Cytokine Of Rat Model For SLE After Treatment With Zi Ying Qing Re Fang

ObjectiveSystemic Lupus erythematosus is an autoimmune disease which severely damages human health.The treatment period of SLE by western medicine is long with much side effection.Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is effective in treating SLE but has no the side effection of Western Medicine.The TCM prescription Zi Yin Qing Re Fang,which has been proved to be effective treatment to SLE,and Leflunomide are chosen to treat the MRL/1pr rat.Flow cytometry is used in the experimentation in which the Zi Ying Qing Re Fang is applied to the peripheral blood of the rats.The effect on the peripheral blood of rats is observed and the cytokine expression levels in blood by flow cytometry are researched.The relationships between Micro-materials such as Cell-mediated immunity factor which is the main functional part of the Zi Yin Qing Re Fang and cell network factor are researched as well.The experimentation will help people to understand better the TCM treatments to SLE,therefore,to find combination of effective TCM and Western Medicine treatments to SLE.Methods1.Forty 10-week-old MRL/1pr Rats were bought from the Animal Centre of Shanghai SLAC laboratory.The rats were randomly divided into 4 groups:control group,Chinese medicine group,western medicine group,Chinese medicine and western medicine group.2 weeks later,control group rats were given saline, Chinese medicine group rats were given Zi Yin Qing Re Fang,western medicine were given aqueous solution of Leflunomide,Chinese medicine and western medicine group rates were given both Chinese formula and western medicine. After 6 weeks oral treatments,the differences of the urinary protein and body weight of Rats from different groups were measured and compared.The effects of TCM and Western Medicine on the urinary protein and body weight of the rats from different groups were compared.2.All rats were killed and Mice sera were sent to laboratory for analysis by flow cytometry in peripheral blood of IL-1α,IL-2,IL-4,IL-10,IL-6.The levels of cytokines between groups were contrasted.ResultThe Comparison between the intervention treatment groups and control group:The level of IL-6,IL-10,IL-4 of the control groups is significantly higher than any of the other groups(P＜0.05) while the level of IL-2 of control group is significantly lower than any of the other groups(P＜0.05) and the level of IL-1αof control group is higher than any of the other groups(P＞0.05).The comparisons between the intervention treatment groups:The level of IL-1αof Chinese medicine and western medicine group is slightly higher than Chinese medicine group and western medicine group(P＞0.05).The level of IL-6,IL-10,IL-4 of Chinese medicine and western medicine group is significantly lower than the other two groups,(P＜0.05).The level of IL-6,IL-10,IL-4 of western medicine group is significantly lower than Chinese medicine groups,(P＜0.05).The level of IL-2 of Chinese medicine and western medicine group is significantly higher than the other two groups,the difference is significant(P＜0.05).The level of IL-2 of western medicine group is significantly higher than Chinese medicine groups,the difference is significant(P＜0.05)ConclusionZi Yin Qing Re Fang can regulate the cytokine production of peripheral blood of Lupus rats,which could be the mechanism of Zi Yin Qing Re Fang in effective treatment to SLE.Zi Yin Qing Re Fang is less effective than Leflunomide in regulating cytokine production;however,a combination of the both is more effective than Leflunomide in regulating cytokine production,provides us with a new ideas and methods of integrating Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine treatments to SLE.