Moxibustion Treatment Restoring the Intestinal Epithelium Barrier in Rats with Crohn＇s Disease by Down-Regulating Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha, Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor 1, and Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor 2

• Published in: Chinese journal of integrative medicine 2011, Vol.17 (2), p.212-217
• Main Author: 施茵 周恩华 吴焕淦 周次利 王乾瑶 戚莉
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 肠上皮细胞; 肿瘤坏死因子α; 肿瘤坏死因子受体; 透射电子显微镜; 酶联免疫吸附试验; 针灸治疗
• ISSN: 1672-0415; 1993-0402

Objective： To investigate whether moxibustion regulates tumor necrosis factor alpha （TNF-α）, tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 （TNFR1）, and TNFR2 in the intestinal mucosa and to explore whether moxibustion could be used by means of this mechanism, to repair the intestinal epithelium barrier disruption in Crohn＇s disease （CD）. Methods： The CD rat models were established by tdnitrobenzene sulfonic acid （TNBs）, randomly divided into a model control （MC） group, an herb-partition moxibustion （HPM） group, a mild-warm moxibustion （MWM） group, and a salicylazosulfapyridine （SASP） group, and all were compared with a normal control （NC） group. The HPM and MWM groups were treated by moxibustion at Tianshu （ST25） and Qihai （RN6） for 14 days, and the SASP group obtained the SASP solution orally for the same pedod of time. The intestinal epithelium morphology and TNF-α, TNFR1, and TNFR2 contents were observed by the transmission electron microscopy and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Results： The sevedty of morphological changes in CD intestinal epithelium was obviously improved, and the levels of TNF-α, TNFR1, and TNFR2 in the intestinal mucosa all significantly decreased in the HPM and MWM groups. However, there were no significant differences between the HPM and MWM groups. Conclusion： The moxibustion therapies （HPM and MWM） could reduce intestinal inflammation and restore intestinal epithelium barrier disruption in CD, which might be due to down- regulating TNF- α, TNFR1, and TNFR2 in intestinal mucosa and improving intestinal epithelium morphology.