Abstract
Objective Design: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by chronic polyarthritis leading to joint destruction and functional impairment. Degree of subjective pain has suitable correlation with quality of life (QOL) in patients with RA. Arthritis in animal models is usually assessed based on joint swelling and no standard method to evaluate pain or assessment of activity of daily life (ADL) is available. We aimed to develop a method to evaluate pain and ADL of arthritic animals based on activity score and examined the effects of Taxus yunnanesis (TY).
Methods: Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) was induced in rats by a subcutaneous injection of type II collagen. TY extract was made in boiled water and a group of CIA rats was given TY extract to evaluate its effects on CIA vs. a group drinking water. Arthritis was assessed by the following criteria and their correlation was analyzed; 1) joint swelling, 2) activity score, 3) serum albumin levels, 4) histology, and 5) x-ray.
Result: Joints swelling was less in TY group vs. water group at 4 and 6 weeks. Activity score in water group fluctuated between 7 and 9 during the 4 week observation period. In contrast, activity score improved from 10 to 5–6 within a week in TY group had activity score of 5 after 3 weeks of drinking TY. Serum albumin levels were higher in TY group vs. water group.
Conclusion: The newly developed activity score has good correlation with serum albumin levels and joint swelling, suggesting that the activity score may reflects pain and ADL in CIA rats and can be a potential new method to assess arthritis in animal models. TY extract may have anti-arthritic effects in CIA.
