Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of electro-acupuncture on cartilage renovation of knee osteoarthritis.Methods 40 female SD rats were randomly divided into the normal group,model group,electro-acupuncture treatment group and control group.The left knees of the treatment group and right ones of the control group were treated by electro-acupuncture for two weeks from the fifth week since operation.Collected left knees' cartilage of all rats at the seventh week since the beginning of experiment.HE and immunohistochemical staining were used to observe the expression characteristic of transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)in cartilage.Results The expression of TGF-β1 in the treatment group was very significantly stronger than all other groups(P<0.01).Conclusion Electro-acupuncture can obviously up-regulate the level of TGF-β1 in cartilage of experimental rats with knee osteoarthritis,and promote the repair of cartilage.

Key words: electro-acupuncture, osteoarthritis, transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)