Chemical, mineralogical and radiological characterization of Peruíbe black mud and clinical evaluation of the effects of mud therapy in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Abstract

The use of Black Mud of Peruíbe is traditionally done, and also currently, through applications of peloid in its natural form, preserving the rich bacterial flora present, and it is believed that it can just be used this way. Currently peloid undergoes a beneficiation process, which uses sea water, which is aimed to decontaminate the mud in a process called maturation. Although widely used worldwide, the mechanisms of action of mud therapeutic application (mud therapy) are not yet well understood, especially considering the different origins and composition of the used muds. In this sense several hypotheses have been considered in an attempt to clarify these mechanisms. However there is an old discussion about whether this is the only adequate preparation for the Black Mud use and if it is possible to submit it to a sterilization process, without loose its therapeutic properties currently observed in its use non-sterile form. Inside a large universe of conditions that respond positively to the use of Black Mud, certainly the chronic arthritis are one of those that respond faster and efficiently, is also a disease that affects a large number of people so that it is possible to compose two observation groups. Thus, this pathology was chosen for this study to verify the effectiveness of the application of the mud in patients with osteoarthritis of the knees, and a comparison of the therapeutic effect of mature Black Mud and black mud matured and sterilized by radiation gamma.The study will be conducted by the method of double-blind observation, where neither the investor nor the patient know who is receiving the Black Mud sterilized and unsterilized. The groups will be formed by 25 people each and patients will be followed by a period of nine weeks, and the method of observation based on subjective information gathered by the table modified Lequesne and WOMAC. The effectiveness of the treatment will be evaluated by measuring levels of pro-inflammatory mediators, cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, IL-18, PGE2 and TNF-alpha) and will also be collected demographic, clinical, and physical and radiographic examinations.Simultaneously, the Peruíbe Black Mud will be analyzed in order to better understand its mineralogical, chemical and radioactive composition and its microbiological content, ruling out the possibility that the use of this material can somehow come to cause any negative effect on human health. X-ray diffraction ,X-rays fluorescence, neutron activation analysis, atomic absorption, content of organic matter determination and sequential extraction will be used to characterize these mud aspects. For the realization of these characterizations X-ray diffraction will be applied to determine the mineralogical composition of the mud; X-ray fluorescence, to determine the major components SiO2, Al2O3, MnO, MgO, CaO, Na2O, K2O, TiO2, P2O5, Fe2O3, and trace elements Cu, Ga, Nb, Ni, Sr, V, Y and Zr; neutron activation analysis for determining the elements As, Ba, Br, Ce, Cl, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe , Hf, K, La, Lu, in, Nd, Rb, Sb, Sc, Sm, Ta, Tb, Th, U, Yb, and Zn; atomic absorption to determine Ca, Pb and Hg; gamma spectrometry to determine the radionulídeos 226Ra, 228Ra, 210Pb and 40K, determination of organic matter, nitrogen and sulfur and the study of speciation by sequential extraction. Analytical procedures will be performed in Activation Analysis Laboratory of IPEN and the Institute of Geoscience of USP while clinical procedures will be conducted on the premises of Complex Thermal Peruíbe. (AU)