SHI Yin, ZHOU Jing, LI Tao,CHEN Liu,WU Huangan

（1 Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine，Shanghai, 201203; 2 Shanghai Institute of Acupuncture-Moxibustion and Meridian, Shanghai, 200030）

Abstract:  Crohn's  disease  (Crohn  's  Disease,  CD)  is  a  chronic  nonspecific  granulomatous inflammatory bowel disease. The causes of CD are unknown. The pathogenesis of CD is still not completely clear, but the occurrence and development of damage and intestinal epithelial barrier in CD are closely related. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α a key proinflammatory cytokine has a  function  of  mediating  intestinal  inflammation  and  the  immune  response.  TRADD-FADD apoptosis  pathway  mediated  by  TNF-α  is  one  of  the  leading  cause  of  the  intestinal  epithelial barrier injury in CD. TNF-α induced zinc finger protein A20 (zinc finger protein A20, A20) can be applied to a negative feedback loop to regulate cell signaling induced by TNF-α, which is essential for  protecting  intestinal  epithelial  barrier  function.  Our  previous  animal  experiments demonstrated that moxibustion can inhibit abnormal expression of TNF-α and TNFR1 in colonic mucosa of rats in CD, thereby reducing the apoptosis of colonic epithelial cells to repair colonic epithelial  barrier  injury.  This  study  aims  to  observe  effect  of  A20  in  CD  pathogenesis.  A20 knockout rats were selected as models. Moxibustion and mesalazine were compared to study effect of down-regulated expression of A20 or no expression of A20 on intestinal epithelial barrier in CD. Moreover, effect of moxibustion on intestinal epithelial barrier was observed as well. This study  was  expected  to  explain  possibly  mechanism  that  effect  of  moxibustion  in  regulatinge intestinal epithelial barrier injury may through increasing expression of A20 and regulate TNF-α induced TRADD-FADD apoptosis pathway.

Keywords:  Acupuncture  and  moxibustion,  moxibustion,  Crohn's  disease,  A20,  tumor  necrosis factor-alpha, TRADD-FADD cell apoptosis pathway, gene knockout rats