Yeom, Mi-Jung; Kang, Ji-Eun; Hahm, Dae-Hyun; Park, Hi-Joon; H.Lee, Eun-Joo; Shim, In-Sop; Lee, Hye-Jung

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease. characterized by leukocyte infiltration, a chronic inflammation of the joint, a pannus formation and the extensive destruction of the 3Iticular caJ1ilage and bone. Several proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-(TNF-), interleukin-1 (IL-1) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) have been implicated in the pathological mechanisms of synovial tissue proliferation, joint destruction and programmed cell death in rheumatoid joint. In the Korean traditional medicine, Hominis placenta (HP) as an herbal solution of herb-acupuncture has been widely used to treat the inflammatory diseases including RA. In order to study the medicinal effect of HP herb-acupuncture on rheumatoid joint, an adjuvant-induced arthritis (AlA) was generated by the injection of 1.5 mg uf Mycobactelium tuberculusis. emulsified in squalene, 10 the base of the tail of Sprague-Dawley(SD) rats. After onset stage of polyarthritis, HP was daily injected to the Zusanti (ST36) acupuncture points in both of rat lags and the expression pattems of cytokines such as TNF-, IL-1, and 1L-6 at the knee joint were analyzed using immunostaining and RT-PCR. The HP herb-acupuncture was found to be effective to alleviate the arthritic symptums in adjuvant-induced arthritic rats as regards the joint appearance and the expression profiles of inflammatory cytokines. In conclusion, therapeutic effects of HP herb-acupuncture on the rat with AlA might be related to anti inflammatory activities of the hurb-acupuncture.

rheumatoid arthritis; Hominis placenta; adjuvant-induced arthritis; inflammatory cytokine ($TNF-{\alpha},\; IL-1{\Beta}$, and IL-6)

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