Honey Bee Venom May Help Treat Arthritis

Anti-Inflammatory and Antioxidative Properties of Honey Bee Venom on Freund's Complete Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis Model in Rats

Toxicon. 2019 Feb 27. pii: S0041-0101(19)30057-1

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The aim of this study was to assess anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-genotoxic and immunomodulatory effects of honey bee venom (HBV) on adjuvant-induced arthritis in rats.

Thirty-five rats were equally divided into a negative control (NC), a positive control (PC) and low, moderate and high doses (2, 4 and 20 mg/kg, respectively) of HBV treatment groups. Freund's Complete Adjuvant (FCA) was given to the rats to form arthritis.

The treatment groups were treated with HBV for 3 consecutive weeks. After the treatment, plasma IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IFN-γ and TGF-β1, total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activities and mononuclear leukocyte (MNL) DNA damage levels were measured. Oxidative stress index (OSI) was calculated. IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, TGF-β1, IFN-γ, TOS, OSI, DNA damage levels and MPO activities were significantly higher and TAS levels were lower in the PC group than the NC. After low-doses of HBV treatment IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, TGF-β1, TOS, OSI, MPO and MNL-DNA damage levels significantly decreased according to the PC, while IFN-γ and TAS levels increased.

The differences in moderate and high-dose HBV treatment groups were not as significant as low HBV doses. Low-doses of HBV has been shown to treat RA with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, by preventing DNA damage. However, these effects have not been observed as strong at higher doses of HBV.

In summary, HBV may be an effective option to ameliorate RA, but the optimization of the therapeutic dose has a crucial role.