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