The comparison of the effect of the aqueous extract of the Elaeagnus angustifolia with ibuprofen on the expression of the iNOS and COX2 genes in the cartilage tissue of rat rheumatoid arthritis model

Background and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease, it is treated by nonstroidal anti-inflamatory drugs. Using medicinal plants has lower dangers than chemical drugs.One of the plants used in the traditional medicine is Elaeagnus angustifolia. In the present study to confirm the anti-inflammatory property of the plant the effect of the extract of Elaeagnus angustifolia is examined on the expression of the iNOS and COX2 genes. This experimental study was performed on 35 male wistar rats. 7 rats  were considered as control group, and in the rest of rats rheumatoid arthritis was induced according to the CIA protocol with collagen type 2 injection.One group was not treated as the control group and three groups were treated orally for a period of 30 days by ibuprofen with the concentration 15 mg/kg and the aqueous extract of the Elaeagnus angustifolia with the concentration 350 mg/kg and their combination,then expression of the COX2 and iNOS genes were measured by real time PCR technique.
FINDINGS: Treatment with ibuprofenand the aqueous extract reduced the genes expression. In other words, the expression of the iNOS gene decreased more in the ibuprofen group (6.34±0.49) than the Elaeagnus angustifolia (7.71±0.61; p<0.001) and the expression of the COX2 gene decreased more in Elaeagnus angustifolia (7.70±0.77) than ibuprofen group (9.93±0.68; p< 0.001). it seems that the aqueous extract of the elaeagnus angustifolia can be used independently or together with ibuprofen to treatment of the rheumatoid arthritis.