Effect of Ultrashort-wave Therapy Combined with Electroacupuncture on Metabolism of Free Radicals in Rabbits with Knee Osteoarthritis

Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect and mechanism of ultrashort-wave therapy combined with electroacupuncture on the experimental rabbits with knee osteoarthritis.Methods Ten of fifty-five experimental Japanese big-ear rabbits were randomized into the blank control group, and the other 45 were made knee osteoarthritis models by prolonged fixation of the right posterior knee joint in extension for 6 weeks. The 40 successfully made models were randomized into model control group, electroacupuncture group, ultrashort-wave group, and combined electroacupuncture and ultrashort-wave group, 10 in each. The electroacupuncture group was treated with electroacupuncture at Xuehai (SP 10), Liangqiu (ST 34), Yanglingquan (GB 34), and Zusanli (ST 36) of the right posterior leg, the ultrashort-wave group was treated with ultrashort-wave therapy, and the combined electroacupuncture and ultrashort-wave group was treated with electroacupuncture and ultrashort-wave therapy, each time 25min, once a day. After treatment for 30 days, the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitric oxide (NO) in serum and the movement of affected knee joint were measured respectively in each group. Results Compared with the model control group, there was a significant increase of SOD, decrease of NO and MDA and knee movement improvement in the electroacupuncture, ultrashort-wave, and combined groups (P 0.01), and the effect of the combined group was better than that of ultrashort-wave and electroacupuncture groups (P 0.01).Conclusion The ultrashort-wave therapy combined with electroacupuncture therapy is effective for knee osteoarthritis of rabbits, and is better than that of single use of ultrashort-wave therapy and electroacupuncture. The functional mechanism is possibly related with the improvement of metabolism of free radicals.