Research On Anti Inflammatory Effects Of Coix Seed And Its Components On Rheumatoid Arthritis In Rats

Rheumatoid arthritis(RA)is a chronic autoimmune disorder,and its incidence is increasing year by year,which is a serious threat to the physical and mental health of patients.At present,the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis is mainly symptomatic treatment,but the effect is not ideal.There are many reports of traditional Chinese medicine treatment,whose efficacy is widely praised by patients.Coix seed,being cold or cool,sweet,light,in TCM herb’s property,is widely used in the TCM treatment of rheumatoid arthritis,but the mechanism of its effective components and function has not been elucidated.Therefore,it is very important to explore the mechanisms of Coix seed in the treatment and prevention of RA.Objective:To observe the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of Coix seed and its components on adjuvant arthritis rats,and to explore the effects of Coix seed and its components on rheumatoid arthritis.Methods:(1)Adjuvant arthritis model induced by freund’s complete adjuvant,after the removal of the right ankle,we fix,decalcify,embed in paraffin and HE stain to observe the pathological changes of the ankle joint under the light microscope.ELISA is used to detect inflammatory factors,such as TNF-a,IL-1 and IL-6 in serum.(2)The writhing and hot plate methods are employed to investigate the effect of Coix seed and its components on writhing and pain threshold of rats to observe the analgesic effect and screen the effective component of Coix seed.(3)With the intervention of Coix seed,the adjuvant arthritis model with Freund’s adjuvant is adopted,to observe the changes in body weight,the joint swelling,and to calculate the thymus index and spleen index of rats in each group.Result:(1)The results showed in the experiment of adjuvant arthritis rats,compared with the normal group,the rats had no difference in the weight in 1D(P > 0.05),and body weight of rats in model group increased significantly in 14 d,with statistic significauce(P < 0.05).After 18 D treatment,compared with the normal group,body weight of rats in model group increased significantly,being with statistic significauce(P < 0.05);compared with the model group,body weight of coix seed decoction group and coix seed oil decrease,being with differences(P < 0.05).In 14 d,the degree of swelling of rats’ articular in model group and treatment group reached it’s peak;after 18 d treatment,compared with model group,coix seed oil group decreasd,the difference having statistically significauce(P < 0.05),there were no differences in the other treatment groups.The HE staining in ankle joint showed that rats in normal control group synovial cells arrange neat;and synovial cells of rats in model group proliferate,and a large number of lymphocytes and plasma cells in synovial infiltrate,and tissue growed mild dropsical;and synovial cells of rats in dexamethasone group proliferate lightly,without lymphocytic infiltration;and synovial cells of rats in coix decoction group proliferated lightly,appearing mild dropsical under synovial membrane,having lymphocyte infiltration;and synovial cells of rats in coix seed polysaccharide group proliferated lightly and grow dropsical;and synovial cells of rats in coix protein group proliferated lightly,with a few lymphocyte infiltration;and synovial cells of rats in Coix seed oil proliferated lightly,with a few lymphocyte infiltration and mild edema;and synovial cells of rats in coix seed starch group proliferated moderately.Compared with the normal control group,the thymus index(P < 0.05)and spleen index(P < 0.01)increased in the model group.Compared with the model group,the spleen index of coix seed protein group decreased,and the difference was with statistic significauce(P < 0.05).Compared with the normal control group,the level of TNF-α、IL-1、IL-6 in serum of rats in model group increased generally,with a significant difference(P < 0.01);compared with the model group,the level of TNF-α、 IL-1、 IL-6 in serum of rats in coix protein group and coix seed oil group decreased generally,with a significant difference(P < 0.01).(2)In the writhing test,compared with the model group: coix seed decoction group,coix seed polysaccharide group,coix protein group,coix seed oil and coix seed starch group all can significantly reduce the number of writhing in mice(P < 0.01).Coix seed and its components showed no effect on thymus index and spleen index of mice induced by acetic acid(P > 0.05).PGE2 and c AMP content in serum,compared with normal control group: PGE2,c AMP of model group was significantly increased,with significant difference(P < 0.01);compared with the model group: content of PGE2,c AMP in coix seed decoction group andcoix protein group decreased(P < 0.05),in coix seed polysaccharide group,coix seed oil and coix seed starch group,PGE2 and c AMP is significantly decreased,with a significant difference(P < 0.01).(3)In the hot plate test,after administration of 60 min,compared with the normal control group,the pain threshold of the hot plate mice was significantly improved in the coix seed protein group and coix seed oil group(P < 0.01).Compared with the normal control group,there was no effect on the thymus index and spleen index of mice(P > 0.05).Conclusion:(1)Coix seed protein and coix seed oil have significant effect on rheumatoid arthritis of rats,and can a lleviate the symptoms of swelling in AA rats,reducing paw swelling in AA rat,decreasing the content in serum of TNF-α,IL-1 and IL-6,suggesting that its anti-inflammatory effect may be related to decreasing the content in serum of TNF-α,IL-1 and IL-6.(2)Coix seed and its components have analgesic effect,and the effect of coix seed oil was the most significant.