Objective: To investigate the effect of moxibustion of "Zusanli "(ST36) on levels of inflammatory cytokines in the hippocampus and hypothalamus regions of rats with fatigue, so as to reveal its anti-fatigue mechanism.
Methods: Twenty-four male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into normal control, fatigue model, and moxibustion groups, with 8 rats in each group. The fatigue model was established by chronic weight-loaded exhaustive swimming. During modeling, the rats in the moxibustion group were given moxibustion (3 moxa cones, about 8 min in duration) at bilateral ST36, once every other day for 11 times in total. The duration of exhausted swimming was observed, and ELISA was used to measure the contents of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interferon gamma (IFN-γ) in the hippocampus and hypothalamus tissues.
Results: The duration of exhausted swimming was obviously prolonged on day 14 and 21 after moxibustion intervention relevant to the model group (P<0.05, P<0.01). The contents of IL-1β， IL-6 and TNF-α in the hippocampus were significantly increased in the model group than in the normal group (P<0.01), and that of hippocampal IL-6 was considerably decreased in the moxibustion group than in the model group (P<0.05). The content of hippocampal IFN-γ was significantly lower in the model group than in the normal group (P<0.05) and was increased mildly after moxibustion (P>0.05). No significantly changes were found in the levels of hypothalamic IL-1β， IL-6, TNF-α and IFN-γ after modeling and moxibustion (P>0.05), and in the levels of hippocampal IL-1β， TNF-α and IFN-γ after moxibustion (P>0.05)．.
Conclusion: Moxibustion can significantly down-regulate hippocampal IL-6 content in fatigue rats, which maybe contribute to its effect in alleviating fatigue. Further studies need being conducted to identify this conclusion.
Keywords: Cytokines; Fatigue; Hippocampus; Hypothalamus; Inflammatory response; Moxibustion.