Objective: To investigate the anti-arthritic effect of bee venom in adjuvant induced arthritis (AIA) in rats.
Methods: Thirty-two male SD rats were enrolled in the experiment. Six were treated as negative controls and 20 AIA models were randomly divided into 3 groups: model controls (n=6), sodium chloride treatment group (n=6), and bee venom treatment group (n=8). The rats in the model control were killed before the treatment and the peripheral blood and synovium samples were collected for pre-treatment controls. The rats in the bee venom treatment group were injected hypodermically with bee venom for 14 days, while those in the sodium chloride treatment group were treated with the same volume of sodium chloride. During this period, the circumference of the affected joints and the total scores of the joints in all groups were measured every 2 days and X ray examinations were performed before and after the treatment. At the end of the treatment, all the rats were killed and their peripheral blood and synovium samples were collected for measurements of tumor necrosis factor TNF-alpha and interleukin IL-1 beta and histological studies, respectively.
Results: Compared with the sodium chloride group, the rats in the bee venom treatment group were less swollen in joints and circumference of joints and lower joint scores decreased (P<0.05). At the same time, the bone erosion and the infiltration of inflammatory cells in the synovium were also significantly reduced in the bee venom treatment group. In addition, the serum concentrations of TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta were significantly lower in rats of the bee venom treatment group than those of the sodium chloride group (P<0.05 and P<0.01, respectively).
Conclusion: Bee venom is effective in treating AIA by reducing synovitis, downregulating the serum concentrations of cytokine TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta and alleviating the bone erosion.