补中益气汤对腰椎间盘退变大鼠作用机制OA

Objective:To explore effect of Buzhong Yiqi decoction on alleviating intervertebral disc degeneration in rats with lumbar disc herniation(LDH)by regulating the C-C motif chemokine ligand 2(CCL2)/C-C motif che-mokine receptor 2(CCR2)pathway.Methods:LDH models were established by exposing the nucleus pulposus of rats to the epidural space of the nerve root,and the rats were divided into model group,low-dose Buzhong Yiqi decoction group,high-dose Buzhong Yiqi decoction group,and high-dose Buzhong Yiqi decoction combined with GW0742 group,with 12 rats in each group.Another 12 rats were used as the sham operation group.Thermal radiation and me-chanical pain sensitivity methods were used to evaluate the pain behavior of rats.ELISA was used to detect the levels of inflammatory and pain factors in serum.HE staining was used to detect the pathological changes of intervertebral discs and Masuda score was used to evaluate the degree of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration.Immunofluores-cence was used to detect the expression levels of Iba-1 and GFAP proteins in dorsal root ganglion tissues.RT-qPCR and Western blot were used to detect the expression levels of CCL2 and CCR2 mRNA and proteins in dorsal root ganglion tissues.Results:Compared with the sham operation group,the model group showed atrophy of the nucleus pulposus,significant reduction in the number of nucleus pulposus cells,distortion and rupture of the annulus fibro-sus,increased expression levels of Iba-1 and GFAP proteins,increased Masuda score,TNF-α,IL-1β,NPY levels,CCL2 and CCR2 mRNA and protein expression levels,and decreased paw withdrawal latency(PWL),paw withdraw-al threshold(PWT)and 5-HT levels(all P<0.05).Compared with the model group,the low-dose Buzhong Yiqi de-coction group and the high-dose Buzhong Yiqi decoction group showed recovery of the morphology and cell number of the nucleus pulposus,reduction in distorted and ruptured annulus fibrosus,decreased expression levels of Iba-1 and GFAP proteins,decreased Masuda score,TNF-α,IL-1β,NPY levels,CCL2 and CCR2 mRNA and protein expression levels,and increased PWL,PWT and 5-HT levels.The changes in the high-dose Buzhong Yiqi decoction group were more significant than those in the low-dose Buzhong Yiqi decoction group(P<0.05).Compared with the high-dose Buzhong Yiqi decoction group,the high-dose Buzhong Yiqi decoction combined with GW0742 group showed aggrava-ted pathological damage to lumbar intervertebral discs,but significant improvement in indicators(all P<0.05).Conclusion:Buzhong Yiqi decoction alleviates lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration and pain behavior in LDH rats by inhibiting the CCL2/CCR2 pathway.