Effects Of Root Of Mountain Spicy Tree Decoctions On The Serum Levels Of NOS, NO, MDA, SOD In CIA Rats

Objective To investigate the influence of root of Mountain Spicy Tree decoctions on the serum activity of nitric oxide synthase and superoxide dismutase and content of malondialdehyde and nitric oxide in rats with collagen induced arthritis, and explore its therapeutic mechanism.Methods Ten rats were chosed as normal group. Collagen induced arthritis animal models were elicited in 40 male SD rats by intradermal injection of an emulsion of chicken type II collagen in complete Freund's adjuvant on left soles. A second injection was given on day 21th. On day 23th, rats with collagen induced arthritis were divided into 3 groups randomly : model control groups ( n = 11 ), Tripterygium glycosides groups (n = 11), root of Mountain Spicy Tree groups (n = 13 ). They were perfused with saline, Tripterygium glycosides solutions ( dissolved Tripterygium glycosides 1.25 mg ) and root of Mountain Spicy Tree decoctions ( dissolved root of Mountain Spicy Tree 1.6 g ) on day 24th. Rats with collagen induced arthritis were perfused for 14 days totally. Changes of arthritis index were observed every other day . Blood of all rats were drawn from femoral artery on day 38th. Activity of nitric oxide synthase, superoxide dismutase and content of nitric oxide, malondialdehyde in serums of rats were detected.Results 1. Collagen induced arthritis animal models were successfully established in 87.5% rats by injecting chicken type II collagen. 2. The activity of serum inducible nitric oxide synthase and nitric oxide synthase and content of NO and MDA were high in collagen-induced arthritis model rats, but activity of serum SOD were lower. There were positive straight line correlations between serum content of NO and arthritis indexs in collagen-induced arthritis model rats ( r = 0.702 , p < 0.05 ) .There were positive correlations between activity of serum inducible nitric oxide synthase and arthritis indexs in collagen-induced arthritis model rats ( r = 0.839 , p < 0.05 ) . 3 . The arthritis index of root of Mountain Spicy Treegroup was lower than that of collagen induced arthritis model group (P< 0.05 ). 4 . The content of nitric oxide , malondialdehyde and activity of nitric oxide synthase of root of Mountain Spicy Tree group were lower than that of collagen induced arthritis model group rats, and activity of superoxide dismutase was higher (P< 0.05 ). There were no differences between root of Mountain Spicy Tree group and Tripterygium glycosides group ( P > 0.05 ) . The content of nitric oxide, malondialdehyde and activity of nitric oxide synthase of root of Mountain Spicy Tree group were higher than that of normal group, and activity of superoxide dismutase were lower than that of normal group (P < 0.05).Conclusions Root of Mountain Spicy Tree decoctions could depress activity of nitric oxide synthase and inducible nitric oxide synthase, raise activity of superoxide dismutase, decrease content of nitric oxide and malondialdehyde in serums of rats with collagen-induced arthritis. It could relieve joint swelling. There were no difference between effects of root of Mountain Spicy Tree decoctions and Tripterygium glycosides solutions.