Abstract: Objective To explore the anti- inflammatory of pricking blood therapy in acute gouty arthritis rats. Methods 60 Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into normal group, bloodletting normal group, sham group, arthritis group, bloodletting group and ibuprofen group. The acute gouty arthritis model was established with injecting uric acid sodium salt into the right ankle joint cavity. The ibuprofen group was administrated with ibuprofen intragastrically, the bloodletting normal group and bloodletting group were pricked the right Kunlun (BL60) acupoint. The cross section diameter of the right ankle joint were measured before and after treatment. Levels of mRNA and protein of interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-4 expressed in ankle were determined with RT-PCR and Western blotting Results The cross section diameter increased in the bloodletting group compared with the normal group after treatment (P<0.05), and decreased (P<0.05) compared with the arthritis group and the ibuprofen group, while the expression of IL-10 mRNA increased (P<0.05) compared with the normal group, the arthritis group and the ibuprofen group, as well as the IL-10 protein compared with the normal group and the arthritis group (P< 0.05). The expression of IL-4 mRNA and protein increased without significance (P>0.05) in the bloodletting group compared with the normal group. Conclusion IL-10 may play a role of anti-inflammatory in pricking bloodletting therapy for acute gouty arthritis.

Key words: acute gouty arthritis, pricking bloodletting therapy, interleukin-10, interleukin-4, inflammatory