• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.253-257
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• 2007

Among the arthritis symptoms, chronic pain is the most serious, and it can profoundly affect the quality of human life. Unfortunately, the mechanism of development in arthritis and arthritic pain has not yet been precisely elucidated. Accumulating evidence indicates that nitric oxide (NO) plays a pivotal role in nociceptive processing in the spinal cord. However, the modulation mechanism of NO in the peripheral site of arthritis and arthritic pain has not been clarified. Therefore, I determined in the present study which nitric oxide synthase (NOS) was involved in the induction of arthritis and arthritic pain. Monoarthritis was induced by intra-articular injection of carrageenan (2%, $50{\mu}l$) into rats, and resulted in the reduction of weight load on the injected leg, increase of knee joint diameter and inflammatory response. Pre-treatment of rats with L-N6-(1-iminoethyl)-lysine (L-NIL, $500{\mu}g$, in $50{\mu}l$), an inhibitor of inducible NOS (iNOS), partially prevented the induction of pain-related behavior and partially reduced inflammatory response in the synovial membrane in the knee joint. These results suggest that iNOS in the knee joint may play an important role in the induction of pain-related behavior and inflammation, and that NO produced by iNOS may be associated with nociceptive signaling in the peripheral site.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.453-462
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• 2020

Chronic joint pain due to loss of cartilage function, degradation of subchondral bone, and related conditions are common plights of an arthritis patient. Antioxidant compounds could solve the problems in arthritic condition. The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-arthritic activity of D-carvone against complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)-induced arthritis in rats. D-carvone was orally administered for 25 days at the doses of 30 and 60 mg/kg against CFA-induced arthritic rats. Changes in body weight, paw swelling, organ index, hematological parameters, oxidative stress markers, inflammatory cytokines, and histopathology were recorded. Oral treatment of D-carvone significantly improved the body weight, reduced the paw swelling, edema formation, and organ index in arthritic rats. The levels of white blood cells were reduced, red blood cells and hemoglobin levels were improved in D-carvone treated arthritic rats. Lipid peroxidation levels were lowered whereas enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants were significantly elevated by D-carvone administration against arthritic rats. D-carvone significantly modulated inflammatory cytokine levels and improved the ankle joint pathology against CFA-induced arthritic inflammation. In conclusion, D-carvone proved significant anti-arthritic activity against CFA-induced arthritis in rats.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.73-86
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• 1995

Heat and cold often produce a similar clinical effect but different physiologic mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of local heat and cold therapy on joint pain, discomfort and, ROM of the arthritic knee joint. Thirty female subjects took Ice bag and hot bag with random assignment of initial therapy Subjects rated the degree of Joint pain and discomfort before and after each therapy, and then ROM was measured. The results of the study were as follows : 1. The hot bag group showed significantly lower joint pain & discomfort score than the ice bag group. ROM was increased in the hot bag group compared with subjects in the ice bag group. But there is not significant differences. 2. The ice bag group showed significantly lower joint pain score after than before therapy. But there are no significant differences in discomfort score & ROM between after & before therapy. 3. The hot bag group showed significantly lower joint pain, discomfort score after than before therapy. ROM was significantly increased after than before therapy in hot bag group. Therefore hot bag was significantly more effective than the ice bag in relieving the arthritic joint symptoms. A further study is necessary to determine the effect of local heat and cold therapy including the related variables such as preference for heat or cold.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.155-160
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• 2005

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of aqua-acupuncture a mixture of bos taurus domesticus and selenarctos thiberanus, and bos taurus domesticus, selenarctos thiberanus and Moschus moschiferus on an animal model of arthritic pain. Under halothane anesthesia, arthritic pain was induced by the injection of $2\%$ carrageenan into the left knee joint cavity of male Sprague-Dawley rats. The responses of afferents to a movement cycle were recorded before and after aqua-acupuncture. The aqua-acupuncture at acupoints reduced neural responses to noxious movement stimulation. Aqua-acupuncture at Zusanli inhibited neural responses of articular afferents to noxious stimulation more than at Hegu. These results indicate that aqua-acupuncture of a mixture of bos taurus domesticus and selenarctos thiberanus, and bos taurus domesticus, selenarctos thiberanus and Moschus moschiferusmay provide a potent strategy in relieving arthritic pain.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.92-99
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• 2002

Objectives : To investigate the role of Meridian flow on acupuncture effect, we observed the therapeutic effects of electroacupuncture (EA) after Meridian blocking with pressure in arthritic rats. Methods : To make reliable and local monoarthritis, $40{\;}{\mu}l$ complete Freund's adjuvant was injected into the tibio-tarsal joint. EA was applied on acupoint GB30 while 5 Pascal pressure was added to the middle of the Gall bladder Meridian around GB31 between acupoint GB30 and arthritic foci (ipsilateral meridian blocking: IB) or opposite part of IB (contralateral part blocking: CB). To observe the change of arthritis, extension and flexion pain scores and circumferential differences were evaluated once a week. Results : EA stimulation without blocking reduced arthritic pain significantly. IB abolished the acupuncture effects and there was no statistical difference with the arthritic control group, whereas the CB group still showed the therapeutic effects of acupuncture. Conclusions : This finding strongly supports that the Meridian blocking with local pressure reduced the therapeutic effect of EA.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.715-723
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• 1999

Bee venom (BV) has been traditionally applied to relieve pain and to cure inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and neuritis. While several investigators have evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of BV treatment, the anti-nociceptive effect of BV treatment on inflammatory pain is not reported. Therefore, we decided to evaluate the analgesic effect of BV treatment using Freund's adjuvant induced chronic arthritis model. Freund's adjuvant-induced arthritis has been used as an experimental animal model for RA in humans to assess the efficacy of the anti-inflammatory/analgesic drugs. In this study, subcutaneous BV treatment (1mg/kg/day) produced significantly reductions of symptoms related to arthritic pain (i.e. mechanical hyperalgesia and thermal hyperalgesia). The anti-nociceptive effect of BV was observed from at least 12 days after BV treatment. Furthermore, BV treatment significantly suppressed adjuvant induced Fos expression in lumbar spinal cord. We also found that local injection of BV into near the inflammatory site (especially Zusanli-acupoint) showed more potent analgesic effect on arthritic pain rather than distant injection of BV from inflammatory site (arbitrary side of back). The present study demonstrates that BV treatment has anti-nociceptive effect on arthritis induced inflammatory pain. The analgesic effect of BV on RA is probably mediated by the effect of BV itself or possible other mechanism such as counter-irritation. Furthermore, it is possible that BV acupuncture is one of the promising candidates for long-term therapy of RA.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.44-53
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• 2003

Purpose : This study was to identify Korean terms appropriate for a new scale using pain terms to assess the pain of the arthritis patients. Method : This study was conducted by secondary analysis of two previous studies, one from Kim's data (1994) and the other from Lee and Choi's(1988). The subjects were 482 patients with arthralgia. Data were analyzed by SPSS Win 11.0, for frequencies, percentages, and means. Results : Five pain groups were sorted out from the sensory pain category, three in the affective pain category, and two in the miscellaneous pain category by selecting groups of pain terms expressed more than 50% by all subjects. Local inflammatory repeated pain terms, simple irritative pain terms, superficial pressure pain terms, traction pain terms, and peripheral nerve terms were included in the sensory pain category, fatigue-related pain terms, digestion-related terms, and suffering-related terms in the affective category, and dull pain terms and body cavity pressure pain category. Among five sample groups terms selected by more than 3 groups with more than 30% of patients were dugumhada, sikungorinda, wooksinwooksinhada, nurudusi apuda, and dangginda in the sensory pain category; nogonhage apuda, gobukhada, and jajungsurupge apuda in the affecte pain category; and buctjockgigunhada and manjimyon apuda in the miscellaneous pain category. Conclusion : Ten pain groups were tentatively selected out of 20 pain groups; 10 pain terms composed of 1 pain term from each group were selected out of 90 pain terms from thesecondarydataofarthriticpainpatients. Implications More detailed clinical studies are needed for the refinement of the scale.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.10
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• pp.1641-1647
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• 2008

Amygdalin is a cyanogenic glycoside plant compound found in the seeds of rosaceous stone fruits. We evaluated the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of amygdalin, using an in vitro lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced cell line and a rat model with carrageenan-induced ankle arthritis. One mM amygdalin significantly inhibited the expression of TNF-$\alpha$ and IL-l$\beta$ mRNAs in LPS-treated RAW 264.7 cells. Amygdalin (0.005, 0.05, and 0.1 mg/kg) was intramuscularly injected immediately after the induction of carrageenan-induced arthritic pain in rats, and the anti-arthritic effect of amygdalin was assessed by measuring the weight distribution ratio of the bearing forces of both feet and the ankle circumference, and by analyzing the expression levels of three molecular markers of pain and inflammation (c-Fos, TNF-$\alpha$, and IL-l$\beta$) in the spinal cord. The hyperalgesia of the arthritic ankle was alleviated most significantly by the injection of 0.005 mg/kg amygdalin. At this dosage, the expressions of c-Fos, TNF-$\alpha$, and IL-l$\beta$ in the spinal cord were significantly inhibited. However, at dosage greater than 0.005 mg/kg, the pain-relieving effect of amygdalin was not observed. Thus, amygdalin treatment effectively alleviated responses to LPS-treatment in RAW 264.7 cells and carrageenan-induced arthritis in rats, and may serve as an analgesic for relieving inflammatory pain.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.113-127
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• 2004

Objectives : The usage of acupuncture has gained popularity as an alternative method of treatment for certain chronic pain conditions. However, the efficacy of acupuncture in various diseases has not been fully established and the underlying mechanism is not clearly understood. In the present study, the effect of electroacupuncture (EA) applied to foot samli$(ST_{36})$ on the carrageenan-induced knee arthritic pain was examined. Methods : A common source of persistent pain in humans is the knee arthritis. Knee arthritis was induced by injection of 2 % carrageenan $50\;{\mu}l$ into the knee joint cavity. When rats developed pain behaviors, EA was applied for 30 min. under enflurane anesthesia with repeated train stimuli at the intensity of 10X of muscle twitch threshold. The weight bearing force of the hind limb was measured for an indicator of pain level after each manipulation. Results : The average weight borne by the hind limb during normal gait was 55% of total body weight, which was reduced to less than 10% after knee arthritis. EA improved the weight bearing of the arthritic hind limb significantly for the duration of 4 hr. EA applied to $ST_{36}$ point produced a significant improvement of stepping force of the arthritic foot lasting for at least 4 h. However, $GB_{31}$ point did not produce any significant increase of weight bearing force. The analgesic effect was specific to the acupuncture point since the analgesic effect on the knee arthritis model could not be mimicked by EA applied to a nearby point, $GB_{31}$. The relations between EA-induced analgesia and endogenous nitric oxide(NO) and inducible NO synthase(iNOS)/neuronal NOS was also examined. Results were turned out that both NO production and nNOS/iNOS protein expression which is increased by arthritis were suppressed by EA stimulation applied to $ST_{36}$ point. Conclusions : The data suggest 1) that EA produces a potent analgesic effect on the rat model of chronic knee arthritis pain in a point specific manner and 2) that EA-induced analgesia modulate endogenous NO through the suppression of nNOS/iNOS protein expression.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.138-151
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• 2003

Although the use of acupuncture for pain has increased in recent years, the mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia (AA) remains obscure. The lack of suitable experimental animal models for persistent pain, which show clear AA, has been the major stumbling block in the investigation of the physiological mechanisms of AA. In the present study, we test AA in two knee arthritis model induced by injection of CFA or carrageenan as a chronic pain model. After induction of arthritis, the rat subsequently showed a reduced stepping force of the affected limb for the next several days. Electroacupuncture (EA) was applied to an acupuncture point each on the contralateral forelimb for 30 minutes under enflurane anesthesia. After the termination of EA, behavioral tests measuring stepping force were periodically conducted during the next several hours. EA produced a significant improvement of stepping force of the foot lasting for at least 2 hours when applied to LR2 In CFA model, and applied to ST36 in carrageenan model, but both points did not produce any significant effects in each other model. These data suggest that EA produce analgesic effect in knee arthritic pain and the analgesic effect is specific to the acupuncture point.