Rheumatoid arthritis(RA)is a chronic inflammatory disease.Persistent inflammation of the synovial membrane is the main characteristic pathological symptom.Moxibustion for treating RA has achieved significant clinical effect in recent years.A large number of experimental studies have also shown that moxibustion promoted the repair of inflammatory damage induced by RA.Based on summarizing 10 years related literatures

the authors analyzed the repair mechanisms of moxibustion for inflammatory damage in RA from central mechanisms including glucocorticoid receptor

melatonine

hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis

and cholinergic nerve to peripheral mechanisms including local inflammatory mediators

cytokine

and inflammatory cell signaling pathway

so as to provide evidences and reference for further research.