COMBINATION THERAPY ON MURINE ARTHRITIS - SALAZOSULFAPYRIDINE, BUCILLAMINE, AND METHOTREXATE

Efficacy of combination therapy for polyarthritis was studied using MR L/l mice. Salazosulfapyridine (SASP), bucillamine (Bc), and methotrexa te (MTX) were employed. The agents were given to the mice in either si ngle-drug administration, else two-drug or three-drug combination ther apy. Single-drug administration in lowered dose had no beneficial effe ct on the joint lesions. The two-drug combination, SASP + MTX and Bc MTX, had efficacy in suppressing fibroblast proliferation in the peri articular soft tissue. The three-drug combination, SASP + Be + MTX, ha d remarkable effects on the lesions, suppressing multiplication of syn ovial lining-cells, subsynovial soft-tissue oedema, bone/cartilage rep laced by connective tissue, fibrin exudation, fibroblast proliferation , and pannus formation, with statistical significance When the efficac y of the optimum dose of the respective drugs was compared with the re sults of combination therapy, three-drug combinations gained new effec ts, which were not identified as additive or synergistic. The mode of action of the combination therapy remains to be elucidated. in Chinese herbal medicine, numerous combinations provide different clinical ind ications respectively. Such evidence introduces the concept of polypha rmacology, which is a reasonable scientific term for studying combinat ion therapy further.