Role of moxibustion in inflammatory responses during treatment of rat ulcerative colitis

Figure 4 Interleukin-8 and interleukin-10 serum levels in normal rats (blank control), ulcerative colitis rats without (waiting list control) and with (3-min, 6-min and 9-min) moxibustion treatment. The measurements were done by ELISA. Moxibustion treatment increased secretion of interleukin (IL)-8 and inhibited that of IL-10. Significant differences in IL-8 and IL-10 of 3-min moxibustion (3M) vs blank control (BC), 6-min moxibustion (6M) vs BC, 9-min moxibustion (9M) vs BC, 3M vs waiting list control (WLC), 6M vs WLC, and 9M vs WLC were found with P < 0.01 for each comparison. For parallel comparisons, the differences in IL-8 and IL-10 levels were significant for 3M vs 6M (P < 0.01) and 3M vs 9M (P < 0.01). For better presentation, only partial comparisons are marked here. For 6M vs 9M, although the difference was no longer significant (P > 0.05), the tendency for IL-8 level to decrease and IL-10 level to increase was still noticeable.