Abstract: This experiment studied the influence on rat rheumatoid arthritis (RA) by oral administration of chick sternal cartilage and glucosamine sulfate. The collagen-induced rat rheumatoid arthritis model (CIA) was established in male sprague-dawley (SD) rats with intradermal injection of type II collagen in Freund’s complete adjuvant. CIA rats were treated with oral adminis- tration of chick sternal cartilage and glucosamine sulfate. The development of RA was observed in CIA rats and some relevant characteristics were determined. The results indicated that oral administration of chick sternal cartilage obviously relieved the arthritis symptoms and markly suppressed the lymphocyte proliferation. In addition, the levels of TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-2 in the experimental rats were markedly lowered versus vehicle-treated rats. Hence, our studies demonstrated that chick sternal cartilage and glucosamine sulfate could be applied to prevent and cure the RA as a functional healthy food which are safe and lack of side- effects.

Key words: chick sternal cartilage, rheumatoid arthritis, type II collagen, glucosamine sulfate