Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2016; 22(8): 2566-2575
Published online Feb 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i8.2566
Moxibustion regulates inflammatory mediators and colonic mucosal barrier in ulcerative colitis rats
Tie-Ming Ma, Na Xu, Xian-De Ma, Zeng-Hua Bai, Xing Tao, Hong-Chi Yan
Tie-Ming Ma, Na Xu, Xian-De Ma, Zeng-Hua Bai, Xing Tao, Hong-Chi Yan, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shenyang 110847, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Ma TM, Xu N, and Bai ZH designed the research; Xu N, Ma XD, Tao X, and Yan HC performed the experiments; Ma TM and Xu N wrote the manuscript; Ma TM and Bai ZH revised the manuscript; Ma TM and Ma XD supervised the research.
Supported by Social Development Research Project of Scientific and Technological Department of Liaoning Province, China, No. 2012225018.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Scientific Research Institutional Review Board of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (protocol number: 20141104).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Tie-Ming Ma, Professor, Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongshan Road 79, Shenyang 110847, Liaoning Province, China. matieming999@sohu.com
Telephone: +86-24-31207020 Fax: +86-24-31207020
Received: September 1, 2015
Peer-review started: September 17, 2015
First decision: October 14, 2015
Revised: October 30, 2015
Accepted: November 30, 2015
Article in press: December 1, 2015
Published online: February 28, 2016
Processing time: 164 Days and 20.7 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The efficacy of different acupoint prescriptions for grain-sized moxibustion on inflammatory responses and the mucosal barrier of colonic tissue was assessed in ulcerative colitis rats. Treatment with moxibustion reduced expression of tumor necrosis factor-α and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, with increased levels of occludin and zonula occludens-1 mRNA in colonic tissue of rats. These data suggest that the improved mucosal barrier function of colonic tissue and decreased invasion of inflammatory factors are mechanisms for grain-sized moxibustion in repairing the intestinal mucosal tissue. The therapeutic effect of grain-sized moxibustion was greater with three acupoints compared to one or two acupoints.