EVALUATION OF ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECTS OF LOSARTAN IN EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Aim: To evaluate anti-inflammatory effects of losartan in experimentally induced rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Materials and Methods: Adjuvant induced arthritis model is used in this study. Albino-Wistar rats of either sex were used. Arthritis was induced by single intra-plantar injection of Freund’s complete adjuvant (FCA) suspended in oil in right hind paw. Rats were divided in to three groups (n=8) namely disease control, standard and test group. Drug treatment was carried out for 21 days. Effect of test drug on acute inflammatory phase was evaluated on day 5 by assessing right hind paw edema. After 21 days animals were sacrificed and evaluated for left hind paw edema, weight changes, histo-pathological synovitis grading in left hind limbs and secondary lesion score.

Results: Results showed that losartan significantly reduced right hind paw edema on day 5 (p<0.05) and showed significant weight gain (p<0.05). Losartan though reduced the histo-pathological synovitis grade and secondary lesion score was not statistically significant (p>0.05).

Conclusion: Our study suggests that losartan could be a potential candidate for treatment of RA. It is therefore recommended that studies using different doses and routes of administration of losartan needed to be conducted in future.