Involvement of Interleukin‐10 in the Anti‐Inflammatory Effect of Sanyinjiao (SP6) Acupuncture in a Mouse Model of Peritonitis

Abstract

In this study, we determined the anti-inflammatory effect of manual acupuncture at the Sanyinjiao or Spleen 6 (SP6) point on carrageenan-induced peritonitis in mice and investigated mechanisms that may underlie this effect. In the first set of experiments, male Swiss mice were allocated into five groups: the control (sterile saline), dexamethasone (DEXA), invasive sham-acupuncture (non-acupoint), SP6 acupuncture and carrageenan-treated groups. Ten minutes after needle retention or 30 min after DEXA treatment, mice received an intraperitoneal injection of carrageenan (750 μg/mouse). After 4 h, total leukocyte and differential cell counts (neutrophils and mononuclear), myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, vascular permeability and cytokine levels were evaluated. In another set of experiments, adrenalectomized (ADX) mice were used to study the involvement of the adrenal gland on the therapeutic effects of acupuncture. Mice were allocated into two groups: the ADX and sham-operated animals (Sham ADX) that were subdivided into four subgroups each: the control (sterile saline), DEXA, SP6 acupuncture and carrageenan-treated groups. The SP6 and DEXA treatments inhibited the inflammatory cell infiltration, vascular permeability and MPO activity in carrageenan-injected mice. In addition, the SP6 treatment also increased interleukin (IL)-10 levels. In contrast, when the animals were adrenalectomized, the SP6 treatment failed to reduce total leukocyte and the plasma extravasation. In conclusion, this study clearly demonstrates the anti-inflammatory effect of SP6 acupuncture in a model of carrageenan-induced peritonitis. Our results demonstrated that SP6 acupuncture depends of the adrenal glands and increased IL-10 levels to produce its anti-inflammatory action.

Protective effects of abdominal electroacupuncture on oxidative stress and inflammation due to testis torsion/detorsion in rats

“…Reducing the activity of MPO using Ac has already been demonstrated in work recently published by Da Silva et al 23 , using an experimental model of peritonitis in mice. Lima et al 12 studied the effects of EAc in randomized skin flaps in rats and found significant reduction in MPO activity.…”

Caffeine at Moderate Doses Can Inhibit Acupuncture-Induced Analgesia in a Mouse Model of Postoperative Pain

“…In mice, the SP6 acupoint has been used in the study of pain conditions and is located 2 mm proximal to the upper border of the medial malleolus, between the posterior border of the tibia and the anterior border of the Achilles tendon. [15][16][17] Needles inserted at the SP6 acupoint stimulate fibers of the flexor digitorum longus muscle and branches of the tibial nerve, which is related to the innervation of the plantar surface of the hindpaw. 18 For EA, electrical current was passed along the inserted needle for 10 min using a NKL EL-608 electrostimulator (NKL produtos eletronicos, Brusque, SC).…”

Anti-inflammatory effect of triterpene 3β, 6β, 16β-trihydroxylup-20(29)-ene obtained from Combretum leprosum Mart & Eich in mice

“…Carrageenan-induced peritonitis is a well-characterized experimental model of acute inflammation, largely employed to test new anti-inflammatory therapies, which allow researchers to quantify or analyze peritoneal vascular permeability and cellular migration as well as changes in other inflammatory parameters, such as cytokine production (Beekhuizen and Van Furth, 1993;Downey et al, 1995;Silva et al, 2011). Thus, in our study, it was possible to produce an acute inflammatory response in the peritoneal cavity of mice four hours after carrageenan injection.…”

“…It has been clearly established that leukocytes, among other cells, are a source of pro-inflammatory cytokines, i.e., TNF-a and IL-1b, released during the acute inflammation induced by carrageenan (Pereira et al, 2006;Silva et al, 2011). There is evidence that these pro-inflammatory cytokines help to propagate the extension of a local or systemic inflammatory process (Mizgerd et al, 2001).…”

“…Total leukocyte count and capillary permeability were determined as described above (for more details see Section 2.3). To determine the differential leukocyte count, the peritoneal cells were cytocentrifuged onto slides using a Cytospin (Tharmac, Germany) and stained with May-Grüwald-Giemsa (Montanher et al, 2007;Silva et al, 2011).…”