Effect of moxibustion at Feishu (BL 13) on airway inflammation in asthma model rats

To observe the effect of moxibustion at Feishu (BL 13) on related inflammatory cells and inflammatory factors in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid of asthma model rats, and to explore the mechanism of moxibustion in treating asthma. A total of 48 Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into a normal group, a model group, a moxibustion group and a medication group, with 12 rats in each group. Except for the normal group, the rats in the other three groups were subjected to ovalbumin sensitization to stimulate the asthma. At the same time, rats in the moxibustion group received moxibustion at bilateral Feishu (BL 13), and rats in the medication group received dexamethasone by intragastric administration. Rats in the normal and the model groups only received the same fixation and normal saline by intragastric administration. After the interventions, the inspiratory resistance, the expiratory resistance, and the pulmonary compliance were measured for rats in each group; the numbers of the inflammatory cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were counted; the levels of the involved inflammatory factors in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were detected; the pathological morphologies of the lung tissues were observed under light microscope. After modeling, compared with the normal group, the rats in the model group showed obvious asthma attack-like response, significantly increased inspiratory resistance and expiratory resistance (both P 0.05). Both moxibustion at Feishu (BL 13) and intragastric administration of dexamethasone can improve the asthma attack-like symptoms of ovalbumin-sensitized rats; regulating the inflammatory cell numbers and the inflammatory factor contents in the lung may be one mechanism of moxibustion in treating asthma.