ABSTRACT

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic systematic autoimmune inflammatory disease in which patients suffer from aggravation of tissue pain, swelling around the joints and also face its associated depression. Objectives: To evaluate the effect of simultaneous administration of leflunomide and antidepressant drugs i.e. imipramine and fluoxetine on arthritis and its associated depression on carrageenan induced arthritic rats. Methodology: Arthritis was induced by intradermal injection of 0.1ml of 1% carrageenan in right hind paw of female Sprague-Dawley rats. Drugs were given orally on second day after the induction of arthritis. Paw volume was measured by Vernier Caliper to evaluate arthritic progression and forced swimming test was conducted for neurobehavioral analysis. Results and conclusion:Maximum anti-arthritic activity was observed in carrageenan induced arthritis group receiving leflunomidealone. Leflunomideanti-arthritic activity decreased a little bit with both anti-depressant drugs i.e. fluoxetine and imipramine. Decrease in activity was observed in both rats receiving fluoxetine than in rats receiving imipramine. Furthermore, the forced swimming test also indicatedthat leflunomide affects anti-depressant activity of fluoxetine and imipramine. Key words: Rheumatoid arthritis, Depression, Leflunomide, Imipramine, Flouxetine

https://ijbpas.com/pdf/2018/April/MS_IJBPAS_2018_4410.pdf

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