Abstract
Purpose: To investigate the anti-arthritic activity of the water extract of Rhizoma Arisaematis (WERA) using collagen II (CII)-induced arthritis (CIA) rat model.Methods: CIA was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rat by intra dermal injection of bovine collagen type II (C II) in Freund’s complete adjuvant (cFA). The rats were treated daily for 21 consecutive days with WERA at doses of 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg. Methotrexate (MTX) was used as positive control, and administered at a dose of 3 mg/kg intraperitoneally in two-weekly cycles for 3 weeks. Severity of arthritis was evaluated by arthritic scores, including paw swelling, arthritic score, body weight, thymus index and spleen index. The levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α in serum were also measured.Results: The results revealed that WERA significantly inhibited paw edema (p-value < 0.01), decreased arthritis scores (p-value < 0.01) and spleen index (p-value < 0.05), and alleviated the weight loss of CIA rats. Furthermore, the pro-inflammatory cytokines of TNF-α (19.3%, 60.5% and 73.9%, respectively), IL- 1β (7.9%, 41.1% and 52.7%, respectively) and IL-6 (26.6%, 48.0% and 72.2%, respectively) were remarkably attenuated in serum of all WERA treated rats, however, IL-10 (72.4% and 39.1%, respectively) was markedly increased at doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg of WERA.Conclusion: The results demonstrate that WERA exerts therapeutic effects in collagen--induced arthritis of rats by decreasing the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-10 in serum, and therefore may be an effective candidate drug for the treatment of human rheumatoid arthritis.Keywords: Rhizoma Arisaematis, Rheumatoid arthritis, Inflammatory, Cytokines, Freund’s complete adjuvant
Highlights
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by synovial inflammation and hyperplasia, cartilage and bone destruction, chronic joint destruction with bone erosion in the extremities [1]
The present study was aimed to investigate the anti-arthritic effect of the water extract of Rhizoma Arisaematis (WERA) and explore its potential mechanisms
Neither death nor any abnormal neuro behaviors were observed during our test period, indicating that it is safe for WERA administration within the dose of 10 g/kg
Summary
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease characterized by synovial inflammation and hyperplasia, cartilage and bone destruction, chronic joint destruction with bone erosion in the extremities (especially the fingers) [1]. In recent years, increasing investigations reported that traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) has provided effective avenues for discovering new drugs [7,8]. The present study was aimed to investigate the anti-arthritic effect of the water extract of Rhizoma Arisaematis (WERA) and explore its potential mechanisms. Water extraction of Rhizoma risaematis (WERA) Rhizoma Arisaematis (RAM) was purchased from Jiangyou Herbal Medicinal Materials Market in Sichuan Province, and identified by Prof. Male SD rats (weighing 160 – 180 g) and KM mice (weighing 18 – 22 g) were purchased from Chengdu Da-Shuo Lab Animal, LTD (Chengdu, China). They were kept in an environment with controlled temperature (24 – 26 °C) and photoperiod (12:12 h) light–dark cycle. From 1 to 21 day after the first injected, the WERA group and MTX group were treated with WERA and MTX orally, the normal group and RA group were given an equal volume of the CMC-Na at the same time
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