ニメスリドによるマウスＩＩ型コラーゲン関節炎抑制の作用機序

Abstract

Nimesulide (NIM) is a newly developed compound from sulfonanilides, and has been proven to have potent anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects in animal models. These pharmacological effects of NIM are comparable to or more than those of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) . However, NIM affects inhibition of prostaglandin synthetase in vitro quite a little, which suggests that the anti-inflammatory effects shown by NIM may be achieved through the mechanism other than the inhibition of prostaglandin cascade. We studied the effect of NIM on murine collagen-induced arthritis, and investigated whether NIM has antirheumatic effect or not. Type II collagen-induced arthritis was generated in DBA/1J mice. Mice were immunized with a series of subcutaneous injections of type II collagen with complete Freund's adjuvant.We observed and scored the arthritis, and the serum titers of anti-type II collagen antibody were evaluated by ELISA. NIM or control drugs were administered orally 3 times a week. NIM (1 mg/kg) suppressed not only the incidence and the severity of the arthritis but also the production of anti-type II collagen antibody, whereas indomethacin (3 mg/kg) failed to suppress the antibody production.These data suggest that the suppressive effect on murine arthritis by NIM may be accomplished through the suppression of immunological events to type II collagen