The Effects of Atorvastatin and Methotrexate on Freund's Adjuvant–induced Arthritis in Rats | ||
| Suez Canal University Medical Journal | ||
| Article 5, Volume 18, Issue 1, March 2015, Pages 30-38 PDF (805.34 K) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/scumj.2015.44162 | ||
| Authors | ||
| Rama I. Mahran* ; Mohamed M. Ewais; Soha E. Essawy | ||
| Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory polyarthritis that progressively destroys synovial joints. Statins have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and/or immunomodulatory activities, many studies have focused on the ability of statins to modulate chronic inflammatory diseases, such as RA. Methotrexate (MTX) has become the leading disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) for the treatment of RA and other autoimmune diseases. Aim: to determine the anti-inflammatory effect of atorvastatin in combination with MTX on the course of experimentally -induced arthritis in rats. Materials and Methods: rats were divided into 6 groups(Control, arthritic control, atorvastatin, MTX, combination of both in full and half doses) for 28 days. Afterwards they were sacrificed and serum level of TNF-α was determined together with the histopathology for the joints of each group. Results: The oral administration of atorvastatin (5-10mg /kg/day) and MTX (0.3-0.5 mg/kg/day) in rats that were previously injected with CFA (either as a monotherapy with atorvastatin or MTX or as a combination of both in full or half doses for 28 days) significantly lowered TNF-α levels in sera. They also significantly reduced the histopathological changes compared with the arthritic control group. The best results were for the combination treatment especially with the full dose regimen. Conclusion: Statins possess a useful anti inflammatory effect in patients of RA especially when combined with other DMARDs. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Tumor necrosis factor-alpha; statins | ||
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