Gülnur TAŞÇI BOZBAŞ1, Mustafa YILMAZ2, Esra PAŞAOĞLU3, Gülcan GÜRER1, Rasime İVGİN1, Buket DEMİRCİ4

1Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Medical Faculty of Adnan Menderes University, Aydın, Turkey
2Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Medical Faculty of Adnan Menderes University, Aydın, Turkey
3Department of Pathology, Bagcilar Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
4Department of Medical Pharmacology, Medical Faculty of Adnan Menderes University, Aydın, Turkey

Keywords: Freund’s complete adjuvant-induced arthritis; ozone; oxidative stress; rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the effectiveness and reliability of ozone (O3) in Freund’s complete adjuvant (FCA)-induced arthritis, an animal model for rheumatoid arthritis.
Materials and methods: Thirty-six four- to five-month-old male Wistar rats weighing between 274-420 gr were used in this study. Saline was injected into the hind paws of half of these rats, and FCA was injected into the other half. At the end of two weeks, 40 μg of O3 was administered to nine rats from each group twice a week for seven total doses. The rats were followed-up in terms of clinical findings. At the sixth week, the rats were sacrificed and serum malondialdehyde, glutathione peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase levels were measured. In addition, ankle joints were separated for histopathological examination.
Results: Significant improvement was observed in terms of hind-paw diameter, severity of arthritis, and histopathological findings of inflammation after O3 treatment in the group with FCA-induced arthritis. Although it was not quite significant, an upward trend was detected in oxidative stress markers with O3 treatment.
Conclusion: This study, the first to investigate the effects of systemic O3 on the clinical and histopathological outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis, indicates that O3 is a highly effective and reliable treatment method in FCA-induced arthritis in animal models.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Financial Disclosure

This study was supported by ADU Research Funding (TPF-15047).