Abstract
Rats with severe, acute inflammation in a hind foot following the subplantal injection of mycobacterial adjuvant, as well as those with secondarily developed polyarthritis, demonstrated a significant decrease in activity of drug metabolism in vivo and in vitro, and a marked increase in proportion of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) with concomitant decreases of the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (SER) and glycogen granules in hepatocyte. Probably, the increased RER may indicate a stimulated synthesis of specific proteins known as the acute phase proteins (APP) .
Glucocorticoids were significantly effective in preventing these functional and morphologic changes occurring in both acute and chronic inflammation, while non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents were without effect even in the doses enough to inhibit peripheral inflammation processes. It is assumed that glucocorticoids may act to induce the SER in hepatocyte by stimulating the synthesis of anabolic proteins, instead of APP, and to improve the decreased drug metablism in severely inflamed rats.
