PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Le Xuan Hai AU - Toshiaki Kogure AU - Atsushi Niizawa AU - Hiroshi Fujinaga AU - Iwao Sakakibara AU - Yutaka Shimada AU - Hiroshi Watanabe AU - Katsutoshi Terasawa TI - Suppressive effect of hochu-ekki-to on collagen induced arthritis in DBA1J mice. DP - 2002 Aug 01 TA - The Journal of Rheumatology PG - 1601--1608 VI - 29 IP - 8 4099 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/29/8/1601.short 4100 - http://www.jrheum.org/content/29/8/1601.full SO - J Rheumatol2002 Aug 01; 29 AB - OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of hochu-ekki-to (HET) decoction on the development of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice. METHODS: CIA was induced in male DBA/IJ mice by immunization with 2 injections of bovine type II collagen (CII). HET was orally administered at different doses and with different schedules. The incidence of arthritis, arthritis index, levels of anti-CII antibody, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and lymphocyte subsets were examined. RESULTS: HET caused suppression of CIA development in a dose dependent fashion and exerted a suppressive effect on CIA when administered from the first CII immunization or from the onset of CIA, but not when administered for 2 weeks before CII immunization. HET inhibited the production of specific anti-CII antibody, IL-6, and TNF-alpha, and tended to normalize the proportions of cells in lymphocyte subsets. CONCLUSION: HET suppresses the development of CIA, and HET redistributes the population of lymphocytes in lymph node and blood and inhibits IL-6 and TNF-alpha secretion in CIA mice.