Objective： To investigate whether moxibustion regulates tumor necrosis factor alpha （TNF-α）, tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 （TNFR1）, and TNFR2 in the intestinal mucosa and to explore whether moxibustion could be used by means of this mechanism, to repair the intestinal epithelium barrier disruption in Crohn＇s disease （CD）. Methods： The CD rat models were established by tdnitrobenzene sulfonic acid （TNBs）, randomly divided into a model control （MC） group, an herb-partition moxibustion （HPM） group, a mild-warm moxibustion （MWM） group, and a salicylazosulfapyridine （SASP） group, and all were compared with a normal control （NC） group. The HPM and MWM groups were treated by moxibustion at Tianshu （ST25） and Qihai （RN6） for 14 days, and the SASP group obtained the SASP solution orally for the same pedod of time. The intestinal epithelium morphology and TNF-α, TNFR1, and TNFR2 contents were observed by the transmission electron microscopy and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Results： The sevedty of morphological changes in CD intestinal epithelium was obviously improved, and the levels of TNF-α, TNFR1, and TNFR2 in the intestinal mucosa all significantly decreased in the HPM and MWM groups. However, there were no significant differences between the HPM and MWM groups. Conclusion： The moxibustion therapies （HPM and MWM） could reduce intestinal inflammation and restore intestinal epithelium barrier disruption in CD, which might be due to down- regulating TNF- α, TNFR1, and TNFR2 in intestinal mucosa and improving intestinal epithelium morphology.
The purpose was to investigate the research achievements over the past two decades on moxa smoke produced in the process of moxibustion, in terms of its clinical studies, chemical compositions, safety assessment as well as the mild smoke or smoke-free moxibustion, for revealing the recent dynamic and developing orientation, and promoting its further application, succession and innovation.
Objective： To compare the effects of electroacupuncture （EA） and mild-warm moxibustion （Mox） therapies for constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome （C-IBS） patients. Methods： Sixty C-IBS patients were assigned to 2 groups by simple randomized method, i.e. EA group （30 cases） and Mox group （30 cases）. Both EA and Mox treatments were performed on bilateral Tianshu （ST 25） and Shangjuxu （ST 37） for 30 min each time, 6 times per week, for 4 consecutive weeks. The gastrointestinal symptoms and psychological symptoms of the two groups were scored before and after treatment. The effects on the corresponding functional brain areas, namely the anterior cingulate cortex （ACC）, insular cortex （IC） and prefrontal cortex （PFC） were observed by functional magnetic resonance imaging （fMRI） before and after treatment. Results： Compared with the Mox group, greater improvements in abdominal distension, defecation frequency, difficulty in defecation and stool features were observed in the EA group （all P〈0.01）, both Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores were significantly decreased in the EA group （all P〈0.01）. Finally, decreased activated voxel values were observed in the ACC, right IC and PFC brain regions of EA group with 150 mL colorectal distension stimulation （P〈0.05 or P〈0.01）. Conclusions： Both EA and Mox could significantly improve some of the most intrusive symptoms of C-IBS patients, and EA was more effective than Mox. The therapeutic effect of these two therapies might through modulating of the brain-gut axis function. （Registration No. ChiCTR- TRC-11001349）.
