Studies on cell motility in inflammation. II. The in vivo effect of anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic drugs on chemotaxis in vitro.

Two systems were used to test the effect of anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic drugs on chemotactic activity of cell-free exudates and also on the chemotactic responsiveness of exudate leucocytes. (1) Inflammatory cell-free exudates from treated rats were tested for their chemotactic activity on exudate leucocytes from untreated rats. (2) Polymorph and mononuclear cells from treated rats were tested for their responsiveness to the chemotactic activity of cell-free exudates from untreated rats. Levamisole, coumarin and D-penicillamine were ineffective in (1) and (2). Colchicine reduced chemotaxis of polymorphs in both systems (1) and (2), whereas no effect was observed on mononuclears. Naproxen was more effective in reducing the chemotaxis of polymorphs compared with mononuclears in systems (1) and (2). In contrast, indomethacin and dexamethasone reduced the chemotaxis of both polymorph and mononuclear cells in systems (1) and (21. Of the drugs tested dexamethasone exhibited the highest potency. These results emphasize the necessity for studying both cellular and humoral factors in the evaluation of the action of anti-inflammatory drugs on chemotaxis.