[Effect of various combinations of DL-alpha-tocopherol and acetylsalicylic acid on adjuvant arthritis in the rat].

The influence of per os application of different combinations of DL-alpha-tocopherol (TOC) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASS) on adjuvant-induced arthritis was tested in male Wistar rats (body weight 227 +/- 18 g; 8 groups, n = 8). One group (control) was without adjuvans arthritis and received no treatment, another group was also not treated in spite of adjuvans arthritis. Further, six groups of adjuvans arthritis were treated with the following combinations: ASS/TOC (mg/kg BW/d each) 250/-, 250/250, 167/250, 83/250, 167/167 and 167/83. During the course of the experiment (21 d), body weights, food intake, and the swelling of injected and noninjected paws, and (at the end of the test period) relative weight of spleen and the albumin-globulin-ratio in plasma were recorded. With the ASS/TOC combination of 250 mg/kg BW each, the highest antiinflammatory effect could be reached, as compared with all treated groups. The reduction of acetylsalicylic acid does by one-third to 167 mg/kg BW in combination with 250 mg DL-alpha-tocopherol/kg BW seem to have the same antiphlogistic effect as acetylsalicylic acid alone at 250 mg/kg BW. This positive effect could be confirmed by the partially normalized relative spleen weight and albumin-globulin-ratio. The results allow the conclusion: --main antiphologistic effect of the combination is due to acetylsalicylic acid; --when combined with 250 mg DL-alpha-tocopherol/kg BW acetylsalicylic acid dosage can be reduced by one-third to 167 mg/kg BW and still have the same effect as ASS alone (250 mg/kg BW); --further reductions of ASS and/or DL-alpha-tocopherol dosage minimize the antiinflammatory effect.