Effect of selected antirheumatic drugs on the metabolism of cartilage and synovial tissue in experimental arthropathy.

The effects of several antirheumatic drugs on the activity of degradative enzymes in normal and pathologic knee joint cartilage and on the proliferative activity of synovial tissue cells were studied. Inflammatory arthropathy was induced in rabbits by intraarticular papain administration. Elevated contents of proteoglycanase and collagenase, together with an increase in serine and cysteine proteinase inhibitors, were found in animals with papain-induced arthropathy. Inflammation also accelerated the rate of proliferation of cells present in the synovial tissue. In the treated animals, the reduction in enzyme activity, decrease in inhibitor content and decreased DNA proliferation rate were registered to a different degree. The suppression of protein synthesis by nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs may explain our findings. The best therapeutic results were achieved with glycosaminoglycan polysulphate (Arteparon).