Phytomedicine
Volume 15, Issue 12 , Pages 1099-1107, December 2008

Suppressive effects of bee venom on the immune responses in collagen-induced arthritis in rats

  • Kyung-Woon Kim

      Affiliations

    • Molecular and Cellular Glycobiology Unit, Department of Biological Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Chunchun-Dong 300, Suwon, Kyunggi-Do 440-746, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Yong-Seung Shin

      Affiliations

    • Molecular and Cellular Glycobiology Unit, Department of Biological Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Chunchun-Dong 300, Suwon, Kyunggi-Do 440-746, Republic of Korea
    • Department of Oriental Medicine, Dongguk University, Kyungju 780-714, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Kap-Sung Kim

      Affiliations

    • Department of Oriental Medicine, Dongguk University, Kyungju 780-714, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Young-Chae Chang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Medicine, Catholic Univeristy of Daegu Medical School, Daegu, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Kwan-Kyu Park

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Medicine, Catholic Univeristy of Daegu Medical School, Daegu, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Jae-Bok Park

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Medicine, Catholic Univeristy of Daegu Medical School, Daegu, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Jung-Yoon Choe

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pathology and Medicine, Catholic Univeristy of Daegu Medical School, Daegu, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Kwang-Gill Lee

      Affiliations

    • Department of Agricultural Biology, National Institute of Agricultural Science and Technology, Suwon 441-100, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Mi-Suk Kang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, College of Oriental Medicine, Kyungwon University, Kyunggi-Do 461-701, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Young-Guk Park

      Affiliations

    • School of Dental Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Dongdaemun-Gu, Republic of Korea
  • ,
  • Cheorl-Ho Kim

      Affiliations

    • Molecular and Cellular Glycobiology Unit, Department of Biological Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Chunchun-Dong 300, Suwon, Kyunggi-Do 440-746, Republic of Korea
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +82312907002; fax: +82312907015.

Abstract 

The effect of bee venom (BVA) on the development of type II collagen (CII)-induced arthritis (CIA) in rats has been studied. Male rats were immunized with an emulsion of 200μg of CII and complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). The rats were then given intraperitoneally (i.p.) injection of a suspension of BVA or saline during the experiment. The effect of BVA on cellular responses to CII was examined. In the control rats, the onset of arthritis was observed at the 24th day after the CII-immunization, and the severity of CIA was developed gradually. As compared with rats treated with saline, BVA i.p. injected at doses of more than 20μl/100g mouse once a day for 14 days inhibited the ability of inguinal lymph node cells to produce T cell cytokines interleukin-1β, -2, -6, tumor necrosis factor-α and interferon-γ when the cells were obtained from rats 24 days after immunization and cultured in vitro with CII. When rats were injected i.p. with sheep red blood cells, hemagglutination titers in BVA-treated and control rats did not differ significantly when low doses of BVA was given to rats. However, i.p. injection of BVA at doses of more than 10μl/100g/day suppressed antibody production. Pretreatment of rats with BVA could inhibit the development of collagen arthritis even when 10–20μl/100g/day of the BVA were used for pretreatment. Interestingly, higher doses than 10μlBVA/100g mouse were much effective for arthritis incidence. Treatment of rats with BVA prevented the development of collagen arthritis in a dose-dependent manner. Doses of BVA (15 and 20μl/100g) resulted in decreased incidence of arthritis. In conclusion, therapeutic i.p injection with BVA improved the clinical course of the disease and the immune response to CII.

Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, Bee venom, Type II collagen-induced arthritis

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PII: S0944-7113(08)00037-8

doi:10.1016/j.phymed.2008.02.015

Phytomedicine
Volume 15, Issue 12 , Pages 1099-1107, December 2008