AIM: To observe the therapeutical effects of gouty mixture on rats with gouty arthritis at acute episode period, analyze
the dosage dependence of the effects, and compare with effects of
colchicine, which is impactful in the treatment of gout. METHODS: The experiment was conducted in the Animal Laboratory, Medical School Hospital of Qingdao University between July 2003 and May 2004.①Forty-eight healthy male Wistar rats were randomized to six groups: Control group, model group, gouty mixture (low dose, medium dose and high dose) groups, and colchicine group, with 8 rats in each group.②All the rats were fed normally for seven days. Colchicine group: Intragastric infusion of colchicine suspension (Colchicine tablet was produced by Xishuang Banna Pharmaceutical Factory, batch number:031101; The colchicine tablet was skived delicately and then prepared with 8 g/L CMC-Na to suspension with final concentration of 80 mg/L), 1 mL once and twice per day; Gouty mixture (low dose, medium dose and high dose) groups: Intragastric infusion of gouty mixture (provided by the Department of Pharmaceutics, Medical School Hospital of Qingdao University, main component: honeysuckle stem, polygonum, sixpetal clematis root, safflower and achyranthes root. All the traditional Chinese medicines were bought for one time. The mixed crude drugs were made into lotion containing 0.408 g/mL crude drug after twice decoction, and reserved in the refrigerator.) 1.1, 2.3, 4.5 mL once and twice per day; Control group and model group: Intragastric infusion of equivalence distilled water, twice per day continuously for one week.③Body mass of rats were weighted at day 0, 7 and 10 before model
establishment and day 2 after model establishment. The perimeter (mean value) of right talocrural joint was measured with line-bind method. Animal models of acute gouty arthritis were established on the forth day of given drugs by injecting sodium urate solutions (final concentration of 25 g/L) into talocrural joint cavity of rats in model group, colchicine group and gouty mixture (low dose, medium dose and high dose) groups. While 0.2 mL normal saline was injected into joint cavity of rats in control group. The perimeter (mean value) of right joint was measured with line-bind method in the same position at designated time points (1,2,4,6,24,48 and 72 hours after model establishment). So the swelling level of joint in rats with gouty arthritis was taken as perimeter margin of talocrural joint before and after model establishment.④Seventy-two hours after model establishment, blood samples were collected from heart after anesthesia to count leukocyte with CELL-DYN-1700 cell counting apparatus in 6 hours.⑤Level of serum interleukin (IL-1β) was detected with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, according to the specification of ELISA kit (Quantikine sub-package).⑥Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to compare the mean of all groups, and Q test was used in pairwise comparison between groups. RESULTS: Totally 48 rats were involved in the result analysis.①Body weight of rats: The body weights increased ongoingly before model establishment, with insignificant difference between groups (P > 0.05); But at day 2 after model establishment, the body weights were notably higher in colchicine group than in model group and gouty mixture (low dose and medium dose) groups (P < 0.05), and also higher in control group than in model group and gouty mixture of low dose group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in gouty mixture of high dose group and control group as well as colchicine group (P > 0.05).②Swelling level of joint: After model establishment, the ankles of rats were swollen, especially in model group, and got peaks 24 hours later then decreased after drug treatment. The descent range in gouty mixture groups enhanced orderly from low dose to high dose; The descent was the most in gouty mixture of high dose group 72 hours after model establishment, and notably lower than in t