Abstract
Acute gout arthritis is one of the most painful inflammatory conditions. Treatments for gout pain are limited to colchicine, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and corticosteroids, which oftentimes result in severe adverse effects. Electroacupuncture (EA) has been proved to be effective in relieving many inflammatory pain conditions with few side effects. Here, we aim to investigate the therapeutic potentials of EA on pain and inflammation of a rat model of acute gout arthritis and underlying mechanisms. We found that 2/100 Hz EA produced the most robust analgesic effect on mechanical hyperalgesia of acute gout arthritis rat model compared with 2 and 100 Hz. EA produced similar analgesic effect compared with indomethacin. 2/100 Hz EA also significantly alleviates the ongoing pain behavior, thermal hyperalgesia, and ankle edema. Locally applied μ and κ-opioid receptor antagonists but not adenosine A1 receptor antagonist significantly abolished the analgesic effect of EA. Locally applied μ and κ-opioid receptor agonists produced significant antiallodynia on acute gout arthritis rats, mimicking EA. Furthermore, 2/100 Hz EA upregulated β-endorphin expression in inflamed ankle skin tissue. Our results demonstrated, for the first time, that EA can be used for relieving acute gout arthritis with effect dependent on peripheral opioid system and comparable with the one obtained with indomethacin.
Highlights
Gout is recognized as one of the most acute painful symptoms that affect human beings [1, 2]
Our study revealed that 2/100 Hz EA produced significant antiallodynia and anti-inflammatory effects on acute gout arthritis, which is comparable to the widely used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) indomethacin
Control group of rats were injected with vehicle (50 μl phosphate buffered saline (PBS), i.a.). 8 h after monosodium urate (MSU) injection, MSUtreated rats showed obvious ankle swelling compared with vehicle-treated rats (Figure 1(a))
Summary
Gout is recognized as one of the most acute painful symptoms that affect human beings [1, 2]. Gout is the most common inflammatory arthritis in older people, with an incidence of 1.4 in women and 4.0 in men per 1,000 persons [2,3,4]. Acute gout arthritis is characterized with sudden occurrence, extremely painful, and inflammatory attacks to the joints. Gout pain is undoubtedly one of the most serious pain symptoms and can severely affect the life quality of patients [2]. The development of efficient analgesic methods for relieving gout pain is of high clinical significance. Current therapeutic methods for relieving gout pain are still limited to colchicine, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and corticosteroids. The usage of these drugs oftentimes leads to severe adverse effects, such as gastrointestinal adverse effects, chronic renal insufficiency, dysphoria, and immune suppression [1]
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