Effects of Moxibustion on Colonic JNK Signaling Pathway in Crohn's Disease Model Rats / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

ABSTRACT

Objective: To explore the anti-inflammatory immune mechanism in moxibustion treatment of Crohn.s disease (CD) from the perspective of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathway, through observing the regulatory effect ofmoxibustion on colonic JNK, c-Jun, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) in CDmodel rats. Method: Male Sprague-Dawley rats of clean grade were randomized into a normal group, a model group, amoxibustion group and a sham moxibustion group. CD model was developed by the mixture of 2, 4, 6 Trinitro-benzene-sulfonic acid (TNBS) and ethanol via enema. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining was used to observe the morphologicalchanges in rat.s colon tissues for pathological scoring; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detectthe contents of MCP-1, COX2, JNK, and c-Jun in colon tissues; real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was adopted toexamine the mRNA expressions of JNK and c-Jun in rat.s colon. Result: Compared with the normal group, the modelgroup showed more significant colonic damage and thus had a higher colonic damage score (P ＜ 0.01), manifested astopical inflammation which involved the submucosa, fissuring ulcers and granuloma; the model group also showedincreased contents of protein MCP-1 and COX2, and elevated contents of JNK protein and mRNA in colon (all P ＜ 0.05), while the change in the content of c-Jun was insignificant (all P＞ 0.05) . Compared with the model group and shammoxibustion group, the colonic damage score was lower in the moxibustion group (P ＜ 0.01, P ＜ 0.05), with improvementin colonic structure and inflammation; the contents of MCP-1 and COX2 in colon tissues declined, so did the proteincontent and mRNA expression of JNK (all P ＜ 0.05), while the change in the content of c-Jun was insignificant (all P＞0.05) . There were no significant differences between the model group and sham moxibustion group comparing all theindexes (all P＞ 0.05) . Conclusion: Moxibustion down-regulates the expressions of JNK protein and mRNA in CD rat.scolon, as well as the contents of MCP-1 and COX2 in colon tissues, which is possibly one significant mechanism formoxibustion to ease intestinal inflammation and promote the repair of colon tissues in CD.