[Moxibustion promoted transformation of inflammatory phase to facilitate wound healing in rats with full-thickness cutaneous wounds].

Objective: Our previous study demonstrated that moxibustion could promote skin wound healing in rats with full-thickness cutaneous wounds. The present study was designed to observe the effect of moxibustion on the levels of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and proliferation of vascular endothelial cells, so as to explore its mechanisms underlying facilitating wound-healing.

Methods: A total of 84 adult SD male rats were randomly assigned to normal (＝6), model(＝39)and moxibustion(＝39)groups. The skin wound model was established by removal of a piece of full-thickness skin from the median line of the rats' back (about 2 cm below the shoulder blade). Moxibustion was applied to the surrounding area of the focus for 25 min, once daily for 6 days. The blood samples were collected at day 1, 2, 3 and 5 after modeling for assaying serum contents of IL-1α， IL-1β， IL-6, IL-4, IL-10, IL-13, granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), granulocyte macrophagecolony stimulating factor (GM-CSF, an inflammatory mediator), macrophage inhibitory protein-1α (MIP-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) with liquid chip methods, and the topical wound tissues were collected after trans-cardiac perfusion with 4% paraforma-ldehyde solution for detecting the expression of CD31 proteins by using immunofluorescence staining.

Results: After modeling and in comparison with the model group, the contents of serum IL-1α and IL-6 at the 1 day were significantly increased (<0.05), but notably decreased at the 3 day after modeling in the moxibustion group (<0.05). The contents of serum IL-1β on day 1 and 2 were significantly higher in the moxibustion group than those of the model group (<0.05). After moxibustion, the contents of serum IL-4 and IL-10 were significantly up-regulated on day 1 after modeling (<0.05), and obviously down-regulated from the 3 day on (<0.05). The contents of serum MIP-1α on the 2 day and serum VEGF on day 1 and 2, and wound-skin VEGF on day 5 were obviously up-regulated in the moxibustion group in comparison with the model group (<0.05, <0.01)．.

Conclusion: Moxibustion promotes the inflammatory response by regulating the levels of both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the early phase of skin wounds in rats, which may be in favor of the transformation from the inflammatory phase to the proliferation phase in advance, promoting wound healing at last.