Effects of fructus corni officinalis fruit core extract on immune cytokine of adjuvant arthritis rats

Objective To explore the effects of fructus corni officinalis fruit core extract( FCOFCE) on immune cytokine of adjuvant arthritis rats,and to study the underlying anti-inflammatory mechanisms.Methods Adjuvant arthritis rat model was established with forty Wistar rats,after that,they were randomly divided into model group,tripterygium wilfordii polyglycoside( TWP) group,low-dose,medium-dose and high-dose of FCOFCE group,8 rats in each group. Eight healthy Wistar rats was used as the normal control group. The normal group and model group were given the injection of 0. 9% Na Cl. TWP group was given the 0. 01 mg·kg~(-1)TWP. Low-dose,medium-dose and high-dose of FCOFCE group were respectively given 200, 400 and 600mg·kg~(-1)FCOFCE. Six groups were given the corresponding dose by intragastric administration once a day,for 4 weeks. The swollen volume of rats' rear claw were measured by plantar circumference. The interleukin( IL)-23 mRNA and IL-17 mRNA expression in the blood lymphocytes of adjuvant arthritis rats were detected by reversing transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Serum IL-23 and IL-17 were measured in all the sera with sandwich ELISA method. Results Compared with modelgroup,medium-dose and high-dose of FCOFCE group had remarkable decreasions in the terms of swollen volume of the rats' rear claw,serum IL-17 and IL-23 contents and IL-17 mRNA and IL-23 mRNA expression levels( P 0. 05). No obvious differences were found between low-dose FCOFCE group and model group in the aforementioned indexes( P 0. 05). Conclusion FCOFCE intervention can reduce the inflammatory reaction of adjuvant arthritis rats,the possible mechanism may be related to its down regulation of IL-17 and IL-23 levels.