[Effect of acupoint heat-sensitive moxibustion intervention on serum osteopontin and matrix metalloproteinase-3 in patients with acute knee pain].

Objective: To observe the clinical effect of acupoint heat-sensitive moxibustion for acut knee arthralgia and to analyze its effect on serum osteopontin (OPN) and matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) contents in patients with knee osteoarthritis so as to study its mechanism underlying improving arthralgia.

Methods: One hundred and forty-four patients with acute knee knee osteoarthritis were randomly allocated to acupoint heat-sensitive moxibustion (moxibustion), electroacupuncture (EA) and medication groups. Patients of the moxibustion group were treated by suspended moxibustion over bilateral Weizhong (BL 40) for 40 min each point, once daily for 15 days. Patients of the EA group were treated by EA stimulation of Neixiyan (EX-LE 4), Dubi (ST 35), Xuehai (SP 10) and Liangqiu (ST 34) for 30 min, once daily for 15 days; and those of the medication group treated by oral administration of Sanqi Tongshu capsules (Panax Notoginseng, etc. used for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis), 3 times daily for 15 days. Serum OPN and MMP-3 levels were detected with ELISA.

Results: Following the treatment, of the 50, 50 and 44 cases in the moxibustion, EA and medication groups, 24, 20 and 14 were excellent, 18, 16 and 13 were good in therapeutic effect, 7, 4, and 3 were effective, and 1, 10, and 14 invalid, with the excellent and good rates being 84%, 72.0% and 61.4%, respectively. Serum OPN content of the moxibistion and EA groups, and serum MMP-3 content of the moxibustion group were reduced considerably in comparison with pre-treatment in the same one group (P < 0.01), while serum OPN level of the medication group and MMP-3 of the EA group were decreased slightly. The effect of moxibustion was evidently superior to that of medication in lowering serum OPN level (P < 0.05) and superior to that of both EA and medication in lowering serum MMP-3 content (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Acupoint heat-sensitive moxibustion has a good therapeutic effect in relieving acute knee arthralgia, which may be related to its effects in decreasing serum OPN and MMP-3 levels.