Abstract
The reversibility of the rheumatoid process observed during hepatitis and jaundice (1) has been generally explained in terms of increased corticosteroidal activity, due either to retention of bile acids, which contain chemical nuclei of a steroidal nature similar to those of adrenal cortical hormones (2), or to the ability of bilirubin to displace corticosteroids from sites of protein binding (3). Little attention has been given to the possibility that different mechanisms are involved in the inhibition of inflammation which takes place during jaundice. Our interest in this problem was stimulated on reading that in rats ligature of bile duct brings about an inhibition of inflammatory lesions produced by Freund's adjuvant (4). This result led us to investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of jaundice by means of an experimental scheme analogous to that generally employed to evaluate antirheumatic drugs.
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