Pharmacologic Effect of Miao Medicine Illicium simonsii Maxim. on Collagen-Induced Arthritis in Rats

Abstract

Objectives To study the pharmacologic effect and mechanism of action of Miao medicine Illicium simonsii Maxim. (ISM) in treating rheumatoid arthritis. Methods Sixty rats were randomly divided to six groups: normal control (normal), collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model (model), CIA + tripterygium glycosides (TG), CIA + ISM high dose oral (ISM-H), CIA + ISM low-dose oral (ISM-L), and CIA + ISM topical application (ISM-T). The treatment doses were selected based on published reports and folk medicine practice. The outcome measurements included paw swelling, joint pathology, organ index, blood count, T helper 17 (Th17) cell count, and interleukin-6 (IL-6) level. Results Compared to the CIA model group, all treatment groups showed a significant reduction in paw swelling, blood vessel pathology, Th17 cell count, and IL-6 levels (p < 0.05 or p < 0.01). All treatment groups showed alleviated foot swelling and lower total number of white blood cells, and these effects were observed earlier with oral ISM than topical ISM. The effect of ISM was weaker than that of TG. In addition, less organ damage was observed with topical ISM than oral ISM but better than TG. Conclusions These results suggest that, by downregulating Th17 cells, ISM inhibits the production of Il-6, thereby alleviating the proliferation of endothelial and rheumatoid-like cells and leukocytosis in CIA rats, ultimately eliminating foot swelling.

Investigation of Efficacy Enhancing and Toxicity Reducing Mechanism of Combination of Aconiti Lateralis Radix Praeparata and Paeoniae Radix Alba in Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis Rats by Metabolomics

“…Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an unknown etiology, chronic and inflammatory synovitis-based autoimmune systemic disease, which is characterized by invasive joint inflammation and symmetric lesions of the hands and foot facet joints, accompanied by positive serum anticyclic citrullinated peptide antibody (Anti-CCP) and rheumatoid factor (RF), even involving extra-articular organs and leading to joint deformity and functional injury [1, 2].…”

Novel Compound Q-1 Alleviates Type II Collagen-Induced Arthritis in Rats through the NF-κB Pathway

“…The novel compound Q-1 was isolated from Tiekuaizi in a previous study [ 20 ]. Tripterygium glycosides [ 21 ] (Lot 20170202) were purchased from Yuanda Pharmaceutical Huangshi Feiyun Pharmaceutical Co. (China). Purified Bovine Type II Natural Collagen (BNII) was purchased from Beijing Paix Science and Technology Co. (China).…”