Objective To analyze the clinical effects of intra-articular injection of chitosan in treatment of knee joint osteoarthritis (KOA). Methods 56 patients with mild to moderate KOA were randomly divided into observation group and control group （n=28）. The patients in observation group were treated with intra-articular injection of chitosan; the patients in control group were given glucosamine sulfate orally. The VAS score and Lysholm score before and after treatment, as well as the clinical effects after treatment of patients in 2 groups were compared. Results After 6 weeks’ and 12 weeks’ treatment, VAS score of patients in 2 groups were significantly lower and Lysholm score were significantly higher than that before treatment (P<0.05). Also, the VAS score of patients in observation group were significantly lower, Lysholm score were significantly higher than control group at each time point after treatment (P<0.05). 12 weeks after treatment, the total effective rate of observation group was significantly higher than that of control group (96.43% vs 71.43%, P<0.05). Conclusion Intra-articular injection of chitosan in treatment of KOA can effectively relieve knee pain and improve the function of knee joint, the clinical effect is reliable.

Objective: To investigate the preventive effects of Polygala on sciatic nerve-related neurons injury of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) rats. Methods: The Wistar rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: blank control group, DPN model group and Polygala prevention group (n=12). The rats in DPN model group and Polygala prevention group were made streptozotocin induced diabetes model. Then the rats in Polygala prevention group were lavaged with Polygala (2.7g/kg/d) for 6 weeks. The DPN rats' model was established with SNCV˂30m/s as the standard. The immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the number of Bcl-2 and Bax positive cells in sciatic nerve-related dorsal root ganglia; Western Blot to detect Bcl-2 and Bax expression in dorsal root ganglia and TUNEL to detect apoptotic index of neurons in dorsal root ganglia. Results: Compared with blank control group, the Bcl-2 immuno-positive cells and Bcl-2 expression in dorsal root ganglia of DPN rats decreased obviously (P˂0.01); while the Bax immuno-positive cells, Bax expression and apoptotic index in dorsal root ganglia increased obviously (P˂0.01). Compared with DPN model group, the Bcl-2 immuno-positive cells and Bcl-2 expression in dorsal root ganglia of rats in Polygala prevention group increased obviously (P˂0.01); while the Bax immuno-positive cells, Bax expression and apoptotic index in dorsal root ganglia of rats in Polygala prevention group decreased obviously (P˂0.01). Conclusions: Polygala can inhibit neurons apoptosis in dorsal root ganglia of DPN rats by upregulating Bcl-2 expression and downregulating Bax expression, so has preventive effects on sciatic nerve-related neurons injury.