The Study Of Proteoglycan And IL-1α In The Degenerated Cervical Discs In Rabbits By The Traditional Medicine And Gene Therapy

Objective: To determine the effects of both anti-hyperosteogeny capsule in combination with glucosamine hydrochloride capsule and gene therapy on the changes of proteoglycan and IL-1αin degenerated cervical intervertebral disc of rabbits. Methods: Forty New Zealand white rabbits, ranged from 2.0³.0Kg in weight, were divided into four groups at random: control group(C), model group(M), medicine-therapy group(T₁), and gene-therapy group(T₂), respectively. Each group had ten rabbits. The trapezius, rhomboidm, splenius capitis, splenius cervicis, semispinalis capitis, iliocostalis cervicis, and longissimus capitis were all removed in the model group and treatment groups. After six months, the rabbits in T₁ group were treated with Glucosamine Hydrochloride Capsules (0.06g/kg) and Anti-hyperosteogeny Capsules (1.1g/kg) by intragastric administration. 20ul of PL/CMV-hTGF-β₁ was injected into nucleus pulposus of C_3,4,C_4,5,C_5,6 discs of rabbits in T₂ group. Group C and M were untreated. In the process of intragastric administration, Glucosamine Hydrochloride Capsules (0.06g/kg) and Anti-hyperosteogeny Capsules into the rabbits'stomach by urethral catheter, twice a day. During the period of gene therapy, 20ul of amplification products of plasmid DNA were sublimed and injected into C_3,4,C_4,5,C_5,6 discs, a month later, all the rabbits were killed and intervertebral discs were taken out for further assay. Observation indexes: (1) X-ray examination for all groups. (2) C3,4 discs of group C and M were subjected to histological observation. C_3,4 discs of group T2 were detected for the transfection of TGF-β₁. (3) The contents of proteoglycan and IL-1αwere assayed with biochemical method and ELISA respectively. SPSS 11.0 was used for data analysis. Differences between groups were statistically analyzed with Independent Samples T test or One-way ANOVA. Results: (1)The successful establishment of the model was confirmed by X-ray and histology,but there were no changes in group T₁ and T₂ compared with group M. (2) Compared with control group, the model group had a significant decrease (P﹤0.05) in the content of proteoglycan; but the content of IL-1αincreased significantly (P﹤0.05). (3)Compared with control group, proteoglycan in group M decreased significantly (P ﹤0.05), while IL-1αhad a significant increase (P﹤0.05). (4) The content of proteoglycan was higher and IL-1αwas lower in the group T1 and T2 than those in group M. They had a significant difference(P﹤0.05) with group M.Conclusion: (1) In the process of intervertebral discs degenerating, there was a change in the content of proteoglycan and IL-1α. So proteoglycan and IL-1αwere important indexes, which represented the degree of intervertebral discs degeneration. (2) Anti-hyperosteogeny capsule in combination with glucosamine hydochloride capsule therapy could decrease the content of IL-1αand increase the content of proteoglycan in degenerated cervical intervertebral discs and postpone the process of cervical intervertebral disc degeneration possibly. (3) Gene-therapy with TGF-β₁ showed similar results as described above.