Abstract
Cold and hot thermal therapies are widely used as a traditional therapy in many cultures and are often prescribed in the treatment of various musculoskeletal and neurological conditions which present themselves to primary care physicians. However, there are no reports that investigated either the effects of cold and hot thermal therapies on the skin inflammation of trimellitic anhydride- (TMA-) induced dermatitis-like contact hypersensitivity (CHS) mouse model, or the mechanism of thermal therapy on allergic skin inflammation. Therefore, in this study, to reveal the anti-inflammatory effect of thermal therapy and its mechanism on TMA-induced CHS, we analyzed ear-swelling response (ear edema), vascular permeability, serum IgE levels, histological examination, and histamine and Th2 cytokine levels. Cold thermal therapy reduced the ear-swelling response, the vascular permeability, the serum IgE levels, and the infiltration of eosinophils and mast cells as well as the mast cell degranulation. To determine the mechanism by which cold thermal therapy inhibits allergic skin inflammation, detailed studies were carried out revealing that cold thermal therapy suppressed IL-4 and IL-5 secretion and mast cell activation. These results indicated that cold thermal therapy cures skin inflammation of TMA-induced CHS by decreasing Th2 cytokine release, especially IL-4 and IL-5, and mast cell activation. These data suggest that new insight into the mechanism of robust therapeutic effects of cold thermal therapy against allergic dermatitis, and cold thermal therapy may prove to be a useful therapeutic modality on allergic inflammatory diseases as traditional use as well as Th2- or mast cell-mediated allergic responses.
Highlights
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a complex and multifactorial chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects up to 18% of children and up to 5% of adults worldwide, with up to 90% of patients presenting with mild to moderate disease [1, 2]
Among the various types of allergic dermatitis, allergic contact dermatitis is a form of contact dermatitis that is induced by an allergic response to a multitude of chemical substances brought on by environmental contamination
These results clearly indicated that only cold thermal therapy may effectively protect the trimellitic anhydride- (TMA-)induced contact hypersensitivity (CHS); high or alternating cold/hot thermal therapies may have deficits in regard to CHS
Summary
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a complex and multifactorial chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects up to 18% of children and up to 5% of adults worldwide, with up to 90% of patients presenting with mild to moderate disease [1, 2]. This disease is characterized by erythematous and eczematous lesion, intense pruritus, dryness, and hypersensitive skin. At the repeatedly TMA-induced skin site, the morphologic changes such as eosinophil infiltration and blood vessel dilation are characterized by the delayed type CHS in humans [15,16,17]. Increased vascular permeability leads to dermal and epidermal edema, vascular compaction, and plasma extravasation [18]
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