[Suppression of adjuvant arthritis with levamisole and prodigiozan].

Effects of levamisole and prodigizan on the development of adjuvant arthritis, the level of circulating immune complexes (CIC) and spontaneous stimulation of adjacent lymph nodes were studied on 150 noninbred rats. Administration of levamisole in a dose of 2.5 mg/kg bw daily from the first to the 12th day after injection of complete Freund's adjuvant inhibited the disease development. On the 7th day after induction the level of CIC was increased and in-vitro 3H-thymidine incorporation into adjacent lymph node cells was recorded as compared with untreated animals. Administration of prodigiozan in a dose of 0.5 mg/kg bw once in 4 days within the same period of time inhibited the development of arthritis, increased adjacent lymph node stimulation and had no influence on the level of CIC. The changes in the immunological characteristics in the inductive phase of the disease suggest that the effects of the drugs are mediated via macrophages.