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Updated: Jul 30, 2025
Preliminary Study on Acupuncture Combined with Grain-sized Moxibustion for Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis with Finger Joint Pain
Published on: May 16, 2025
Methotrexate plus electroacupuncture reduces autophagy in ankle synovial tissue in rats with rheumatoid arthritis
Jianbin Sun1, Wendi Zhai2, Zheng Wang3
1Department of Hand, Foot and Ankle, The General Hospital of Ningxia Medical University Yinchuan 750004, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, P. R. China.
Objective:
To explore the effect of methotrexate combined with electroacupuncture on autophagy in the ankle synovial tissue in rats modeled with rheumatoid arthritis.
Methods:
A rat model of rheumatoid arthritis was constructed by Freund's complete adjuvant injection. The animals were then randomly grouped into the methotrexate + electroacupuncture, methotrexate, electroacupuncture, and model groups. The left hindfoot plantar volume, histopathological morphology of the ankle joint synovium, and autophagy-related genes were detected and compared after the intervention.
Results:
In comparison with the model group, significantly reduced plantar volume and mRNA and protein levels of autophagy-related gene (Atg) 3, Atg5, Atg12, unc-51-like kinase 1 (ULK1), Beclin1, and light chain 3 (LC3), as well as alleviated synovial hyperplasia were identified in the methotrexate and electroacupuncture groups. The improvement in the above indicators was more pronounced in the methotrexate + electroacupuncture group.
Conclusions:
By inhibiting autophagosome formation, both methotrexate and electroacupuncture inhibit synovial cell autophagy, alleviate synovial cell hyperautophagy, and relieve abnormal synovial hyperplasia, thus exerting a protective effect on the joint synovium. The combination of treatment with methotrexate and electroacupuncture works best.
