Antiarthritic synergism of combined oral and parenteral chrysotherapy. I. Studies in adjuvant-induced arthritis in rats.

In comparative clinical studies of auranofin (AF, oral gold) and parenteral gold in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, no difference in efficacy was detected. Since the pharmacologic profiles of these compounds are different, we studied their combined effect on adjuvant arthritis (AA). The effect of AF alone and combined with gold sodium thiomalate (GTM) or gold sodium thiosulfate (GTS) on the excretion of urinary hydroxyproline (UHP) and urinary calcium (UCa), and the articular index of arthritic rats was followed during five weeks of treatment. The excretion of UHP and UCa was significantly inhibited (P less than 0.005) in rats treated with AF combined with GTM or GTS as compared with animals treated with the individual gold compounds. However, the articular index only decreased significantly (P less than 0.02) in the group of rats treated with AF + GTS. The present studies open the possibility that combined treatment with oral and injectable gold provide a new approach for chrysotherapy with an increased antiarthritic potency.