Evaluation of potential antirheumatic drugs in vitro using lymphocytes and epithelial cells. The selective action of indoxole, methyl glyoxal and chloroquine

Abstract

Anti-inflammatory steroids and non-steroid drugs rapidly inhibit the incorporation of radioactivity from tritiated uridine and thymidine into the nucleic acid fraction of cultured epithelial cells and lymphocytes obtained from sheep, rats, rabbits and chickens. Acidic (uncoupling) drugs were also found to inhibit protein synthesis in these particular cells, and protein and nucleic acid synthesis in other cells which were steroid-insensitive, DNA synthesis in epithelial cells and lymphocytes was inhibited by methyl glyoxal (pyruvaldehyde). Chloroquine selectively inhibited thymidine incorporation by the epithelial cells. Indoxole was a potent inhibitor of the metabolism of circulating lymphocytes incubated in protein-free media. These findings may indicate why some of these drugs suppress adjuvant arthritis in rats.