The Empirical Study Of Zhishang Capsule On Rheumatoid Arthritis

Objective:To explore the therapeutic effect and mechanism of Zhishang capsule on RA,we use the rat model of adjuvant-induced arthritis to study the primarily and second swelling of paw,arthritis index,thymus index,spleen index,the level of T-cell subsets of CD4⁺,CD8⁺and CD4⁺/CD8⁺,serum levels of TNF-α,IL-1βand the blood rheology.Method:76 SD rats were randomly divided into six groups:control group(10 rats),model group(18 rats),and four treatment groups:positive control group,large dose of Zhishang capsule group,middle dose of Zhishang capsule group,small dose of Zhishang capsule group,12 rats each group.In addition to the control group,the left rear paw of the remaining rats were plantar intradermal injected of adjuvant to induce inflammation,and the model was established successfully.Before and after 2h,5h,8h,12h,24h,31h,48h and 72h of the injection,the circumference of left rear ankles were measured,and all the rats of treatment group were intragastric administred before injection and after 8h,22h,32h,46h,56h of the injection.The control and model group were given by distilled Water (20ml/kg),while the positive control group was given by Glucosidorum Tripterygll Totorum(40mg/kg),and the large,middle,small dose of Zhishang capsule groups were given by 0.54g/kg,0.27g/kg and 0.135g/kg of Zhishang capsule each.In the 17^thday,the second swelling was observed and the arthritis indexs were recorded.The rats continued to be treated after the 17^thday,once a day.And the circumference of right rear ankles were measured and the arthritis index was recorded every two days.In the 28^thday after injection,rats were killed by femoral artery bloodletting,and the thymus and spleen were dissected out to weight.About 2-3ml of whole blood was placed in the heparin-anticoagulation tube,a part for hemorheology,and the other part for measuring the level of T-cell subsets of CD4⁺,CD8⁺ by flow cytometry.The remaining blood serum was separated to test the levels ofTNF-α,IL-1βby ABC-ELISA.Result:1.After injection of adjuvant,left rear paw of model group rats began swelling,and it was arrived the peak after 12 hours,then decrease gradually.The treatment groups showed the similar trend,but compared with model group,there were some differences,especially in the 31h after injection,the swelling of paw in three different doses groups of Zhishang capsule were significantly inhibited(P＜0.01).2.Compared with model group,the second paw swelling of each treatment group were all inhibited,the swelling of the positive control group was significantly less than model groups except the 10^thday after treatment(P＜0.05);the swelling of large dose of Zhishang capsule group was no difference to model group except the 4^thday after treatment(P＞0.05); the swelling of middle dose of Zhishang capsule group was obviously smaller(P＜0.05,the 4^th8^th12^thdays P＜0.01);the swelling of small dose of Zhishang capsule was obviously less than the model group(P＜0.01).3.Compared with model group,arthritis index of large dose of Zhishang capsule group had no difference except the 4^thday after treatment(P＜0.05); In addition to the 6^thday after treatment,arthritis index of middle dose of Zhishang capsule was significantly lower than the model group(P＜0.01);in the course of treatment,arthritis index of small dose of Zhishang capsule was significantly lower than model group(P＜0.01).4.Compared with model group,spleen index and thymus index of positive control group,large and middle dose of Zhishang capsule groups decreased significantly(P＜0.01),and that of small dose of Zhishang capsule decreased, the difference was significant(P＜0.05).5.Compared with the model group,the blood T-cell CD4⁺ level of positive control group,large,middle and small dose of Zhishang capsule group decreased significantly(P＜0.05);CD8⁺ level of positive control group,large dose of Zhishang capsule increased,there were significant differences (P＜0.05);and CD4⁺/CD8⁺ of positive control group,large,middle and small dose of Zhishang capsule group were significantly decreased(P＜0.01).6.Compared with the model group,serum level of TNF-αof positive control group and large,middle and small dose of Zhishang capsule was significantly decreased(P＜0.01);serum level of IL-1βof positive control group and large,middle and small dose of Zhishang capsule was significantly decreased(P＜0.01).7.Whole blood low,middle and high shear viscosity and Casson viscosity of model group were significantly higher than the control group,there were significant differences(P＜0.01);compared with model group,low,middle and high shear viscosity of small dose of Zhishang capsule declined,the difference was significant(P＜0.05),the other groups showed no significant difference(P＞0.05);Compared with control group,erythrocyte count and hematocrit of model group increased significantly(P＜0.05),but erythrocyte aggregation index of model group had no significant difference(P＞0.05);compared with model group,erythrocyte count and hematocrit of small dose of Zhishang capsule group declined significantly(P＜0.05)and the other groups had no significant difference(P＞0.05).Conclusion:Zhishang capsule could inhibit the paw primary swelling,second swelling and arthritis index of RA model rats;it could reduce spleen index and thymus index of RA model rats;and could improve T cell subsets of CD4⁺,CD8⁺ and CD4⁺/CD8⁺ level;it could reduce serum levels of TNF-α,IL-1βof RA model rats,and improve some index of hemorheology of RA model rats.Zhishang capsule have a certain therapeutic effect on rheumatoid arthritis model rats.