ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL OF CARBOXYTHERAPY IN CARRAGEENAN-INDUCED INFLAMMATION IN RATS

Introductions. Osteoarthritis is one of the most common joint diseases, accompanied by chronic pain and limited mobility, which significantly impairs the quality of life of patients. Inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress play a key role in the development of osteoarthritis, leading to cartilage degradation. Current treatments are mostly aimed at reducing symptoms, but do not stop the progression of the disease and are often accompanied by side effects. In this regard, it is important to search for new therapeutic approaches that can effectively counteract inflammation and oxidative stress. One of the promising areas is carboxytherapy, which shows potential in reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, which was the subject of the present study. Objective: To evaluate the effect of carbon dioxide as monotherapy and in combination with diclofenac sodium or chondroitin on the level of oxidative stress in a carrageenan-induced inflammation in rat model. Methods and materials. The study was conducted on 56 white rats randomised into 7 groups, assessing the level of oxidative stress by the content of products reacting with thiobarbituric acid, superoxide dismutase and catalase activity. One-way analysis of variance with Tukey's post hoc test was used for statistical processing. Results. The study demonstrated that the use of CO₂ caused a decrease in the level of products reacting with thiobarbituric acid by 23.04% (p<0.001) in group VII and by 22.56% (p<0.001) in group VI. CO₂ administration reduced catalase activity by 26.91% (p<0.001) in group VI and by 25.99% (p<0.001) in group VII. CO₂ increased the activity of superoxide dismutase by 35.3% (p<0.001) in group VII and by 35.0% (p<0.001) in group VI. CO₂ monotherapy in group V resulted in an increase in superoxide dismutase activity by 24.4% (p<0.001). Conclusion. Carbon dioxide demonstrated a significant antioxidant effect, reducing oxidative stress and increasing the activity of antioxidant enzymes, which indicates the prospects of its use in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, in particular osteoarthritis.