Electroacupuncture Delays Cartilage Degeneration by Modulating Nuclear Factor-κB Signaling Pathway

Wu, Guangwen; Huang, Yunmei; Pan, Caibin; Chen, Wenlie; Zhang, Shi-mao; Lin, Wei; Liu, Xianxiang; Wu, Mingxia

doi:10.1007/s11655-018-2916-8

Cited by 22 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Qin et al (2013) found that EA treatment of New Zealand white rabbits with knee arthritis model induced by bilateral ovariectomies resulted in higher estrogen levels in the EA group than in the model group, thereby reducing MMP-13 expression. So far, despite that the mechanism of EA in improving knee arthritis has not been fully elucidated, recent studies have reported that EA may have an anti-inflammatory effect on knee arthritis (Chen et al, 2017;Sun et al, 2018;Wu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy and Mechanism of Electroacupuncture Treatment of Rabbits With Different Degrees of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Study Based on Synovial Innate Immune Response

Ruan¹,

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Physiol.

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Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a chronic degenerative bone and joint disease, which is often clinically manifested as pain, joint swelling, and deformity. Its pathological manifestations are mainly synovial inflammation and cartilage degeneration. This study aims to investigate the efficacy of electro-acupuncture (EA) on model rabbits with varying degrees of KOA and to study the mechanism of EA on KOA based on the innate immune response. Mild and moderate rabbit KOA models were established using a modified Hluth method, and EA was given to both the mild and moderate model groups. The Lequesne-MG index was used to evaluate the behavioral changes in the rabbits before and after EA treatment. Morphological changes in the synovial membrane and cartilage of each group were observed by H&E staining. The Mankin scoring standard and the Krenn scoring standard were used to score the pathology of the cartilage tissue and synovial tissue, respectively. The inflammatory factors and metalloproteinases were detected in the serum of each group by ELISA. The protein and messenger RNA (mRNA) expressions of important elements related to Toll-like receptors (TLRs)-mediated innate immune response in the synovial tissue were detected by Western blot and quantitative PCR (qPCR). The Lequesne-MG index score of the rabbits gradually increased with the modeling prolonged but decreased significantly after EA treatment, indicating that EA has a better effect on alleviating the pain and improving the dysfunction. The morphological analysis showed that the inflammation of and the damage to the synovial membrane and the cartilage tissue gradually deteriorated with the modeling prolonged. However, the synovial membrane inflammation was significantly relieved after EA treatment, and the cartilage injury showed signs of repair. The ELISA analysis showed that, with the modeling prolonged, the serum-related inflammatory factors and mechanism of metalloproteinases gradually increased but decreased after EA treatment. The tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and matrix metalloproteinase3 (MMP3) of EA1 group were significantly lower than those of EA2 group. Both Western blot and qPCR results showed that the protein and mRNA expressions of the elements related to the innate immune response in the synovial membrane increased gradually with the modeling prolonged, but decreased significantly after EA treatment. Additionally, the expression of some components in EA1 group was significantly lower than that in EA2 group. These results confirm that synovial inflammation gradually aggravated with time from the early to mid-stage of KOA. EA alleviated the inflammation and histological changes in KOA rabbits by inhibiting the TLRs-mediated innate synovial immune response. This suggests that using EA in the early stage of KOA may achieve a desirable efficacy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy and Mechanism of Electroacupuncture Treatment of Rabbits With Different Degrees of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Study Based on Synovial Innate Immune Response

Ruan¹,

Wang

et al. 2021

Front. Physiol.

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“…A previous study showed the positive effects of EA in eliminating inflammation, activating growth factors, and regulating bone metabolism [ 41 ]. Wu et al found that IL-1β and IL-6 levels in SF and cartilage in the EA-treated group were significantly decreased in the OA rat model [ 42 ]. Furthermore, Bao et al found that acupuncture stimulation performs better than medication with Diclofenac cream in reducing the expression of MMP-1 in cartilage [ 43 ], and Zhou et al reported that EA downregulated the expression of MMP-13 [ 44 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decreased Synovial Fluid Biomarkers Levels Are Associated with Rehabilitation of Function and Pain in Rotator Cuff Tear Patients Following Electroacupuncture Therapy

Guan

Geng

et al. 2020

Med Sci Monit

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Background The aim of this study was to assess inflammatory cytokines levels in synovial fluid (SF) before and after electroacupuncture (EA) treatment and to explore whether these biomarkers are associated with function of rotator cuff tear (RCT) patients. Material/Methods We recruited 54 patients with RCT and separated them into an EA group and a control group. The SF biomarker levels were detected at baseline and at 6-week and 6-month follow-up. The symptomatic severity was evaluated by visual analog scale (VAS), Constant-Murley score, and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons score (ASES). We also investigated the correlation between symptomatic severity and biomarker levels in SF of the shoulder joint. Results The reductions in VAS and improved functional score (ASES and Constant-Murley score) were significantly different between the 2 groups, and SF biomarker concentrations were significantly lower in the EA group. IL-1β levels were significantly negatively correlated with Constant-Murley score (r=−0.73, P=0.04) and ASES score (r=−0.59, P<0.001) and positively correlated with VAS scores (r=0.81, P=0.004). IL-6 levels were significantly negatively correlated with Constant-Murley score (r=−0.67, P=0.03) and positively correlated with VAS score (r=0.7, P=0.01). MMP-1 levels were significantly negatively correlated with ASES score (r=−0.57, P<0.001). Conclusions The biomarkers in SF were directly associated with shoulder pain and shoulder function in rotator cuff tear. EA, as a safe and effective conservative therapy, obviously decreased the level of inflammatory cytokines in RCT patients, accompanied by a reduction in shoulder pain and improved function.

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“…Studies have shown that EA not only produces an analgesic effect but also inhibit peripheral and central inflammatory factors, such as IL-1β, TNF-α, PGE2, and COX-2 [22]. It was reported that EA significantly reduced the serum levels of TNF-α in adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) rats [23]; researchers observed that EA could inhibit the secretion of IL-1β and TNF-α in osteoarthritis (OA) rats [24]; Wang et al [25] revealed that EA could reduce TNF-α mRNA and protein expression, thus reducing tissue damage in neuropathic pain rats. In our study, we found that high-frequency and low-frequency EA stimulation downregulated the levels of IL-1β and TNF-α in CFA rats, which was consistent with findings from other studies on inflammatory pain [22,26,27].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electroacupuncture Alleviates Experimental Chronic Inflammatory Pain by Inhibiting Calcium Voltage‐Gated Channel‐Mediated Inflammation

Zhou

Ying

et al. 2020

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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Background. Both experimental and clinical studies have shown that electroacupuncture (EA) administration ameliorates chronic inflammatory pain (CIP). However, the multifaceted mechanism underlying the effects of EA on CIP is poorly understood. In this study, the mRNA transcriptome was used to study various therapeutic targets of EA. Methods. Using RNA-sequencing, protein-coding mRNA expression profiles of the L4-L5 dorsal root ganglion (DRG) were examined in the control (CN), complete Freund’s adjuvant- (CFA-) induced CIP, and EA-treated CIP groups. A series of bioinformatics analyses was performed; “EA-reversed upregulated genes with CIP” (up-DEGs) and “EA-reversed downregulated genes with CIP” (down-DEGs) were identified. Thereafter, based on up-DEGs and down-DEGs, biological functions and signaling pathways were enriched using gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses. Results. In total, 189 DEGs were identified, including 134 up- and 55 down-DEGs, which were enriched in arachidonic acid metabolism (rno00590), glutamatergic synapse (rno04724), serotonergic synapse (rno04726), FoxO signaling pathway (rno04068), insulin signaling pathway (rno04910), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (rno05014), cholinergic synapse (rno04725), ECM-receptor interaction (rno04512), and choline metabolism in cancer (rno05231). Conclusion. We identified a few GOs, pathways, and genes that could play key roles in the amelioration of CIP by EA. Hence, this study may provide a theoretical basis for CIP amelioration by EA.

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Electroacupuncture Delays Cartilage Degeneration by Modulating Nuclear Factor-κB Signaling Pathway

Cited by 22 publications

References 31 publications

Efficacy and Mechanism of Electroacupuncture Treatment of Rabbits With Different Degrees of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Study Based on Synovial Innate Immune Response

Efficacy and Mechanism of Electroacupuncture Treatment of Rabbits With Different Degrees of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Study Based on Synovial Innate Immune Response

Decreased Synovial Fluid Biomarkers Levels Are Associated with Rehabilitation of Function and Pain in Rotator Cuff Tear Patients Following Electroacupuncture Therapy

Electroacupuncture Alleviates Experimental Chronic Inflammatory Pain by Inhibiting Calcium Voltage‐Gated Channel‐Mediated Inflammation

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