Anti arthritic activity of aqueous extract of Indian black tea in experimental and clinical study

Aim of the study was to evaluate the anti-arthritic activity of aqueous black tea extract against experimental arthritis model and in clinical study. Black tea leave (Assam, CTC, India) was collected commercially from authenticated tea supplier. BTE was prepared with MilliQ water and expressed in terms of dry weight. Rheumatoid arthritis was developed in male albino rats by FCA injection into the sub planter surface of hind foot and divided into five groups: Group-1 (Gr.1): Sham control; Group-2 (Gr.2) : Arthritic control, Group-3 (Gr.3): Standard anti-arthritic drug Indomethacin, Group-4 (Gr.4) & Group-5 (Gr.5) : BTE (high and low dose). Anti-arthritic activity of BTE was examined in animal models through physical, urinary, serum parameters and clinical serum samples. Histological studies of joints were done. Clinical study with BTE performed on the rheumatoid arthritis patients and the serum cytokines (IL-10, IL-6, IL-4) was done. Data was expressed in terms of mean +/- SEM (n=6). The data were subjected to one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey's test using Graph Pad InStat3 software to establish statistical significance. Physical, urine, serum parameters and anti-oxidant markers, changed significantly in FCA induced arthritic rats but restored in BTE treated groups. Histological studies of joints showed restoration of the structural architecture of the joint after BTE treatment. Clinical study showed decreased cytokines level in the BTE treated group of patients as compared with the arthritis control group of patients. Data was expressed in terms of mean +/- SEM (n=6). The data were subjected to one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey's test to establish statistical significance (*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001). The findings showed BTE had anti-arthritic activity in both experimental and clinical study. Further studies required to ascertain the action of BTE extract at molecular level.