title: Electroacupuncture and moxibustion promote neutrophil apoptosis and improve ulcerative colitis in rats.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) and moxibustion on promoting neutrophil apoptosis. A rat model of ulcerative colitis was established by immunological methods using human colonic mucosa as antigen. All rats were randomly assigned to the model control (MC) group, EA group, or herbs-partition moxibustion (HPM) group. Normal rats were used as the normal control (NC) group. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from all rats and circular neutrophils from NC rats were isolated and cultured. Circular neutrophils were incubated with cultured supernatants of PBMCs from the MC, NC, EA, and HPM groups, respectively. Neutrophil apoptosis and concentration of IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha from induced cultured supernatants were detected by cell cytometry and ELISA, respectively. Compared with MC, HPM, and EA rats, mucosal inflammatory lesions abated remarkably. No hyperemia or edema was seen in the lamina propria, inflammatory cell infiltration decreased, neutrophil infiltration disappeared, and epithelial and crypt cells proliferated and repaired the ulceration of the mucosa. Neutrophil apoptosis was promoted. Concentrations of IL-1beta, IL-6, and TNF-alpha were decreased, respectively. We conclude that EA and HPM therapy can improve ulcerative colitis rats histologically, which may be due to promoting neutrophil apoptosis and down-regulating monocyte cytokines. EA and moxibustion are effective for treating ulcerative colitis.
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Research Institute of Acupuncture and Meridian, XuHui District, 200030, Shanghai, PR China. wuhuangan@citiz.net
authors.forename: Huan-Gan
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Hui-Rong
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Lin-Ying
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: Ye-Jing
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Tian-Ping
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Yao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015671:Electroacupuncture; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006801:Humans; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009071:Moxibustion; D009504:Neutrophils; D019899:Paracrine Communication; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014020:Tissue Extracts
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D014020:Tissue Extracts