Antiinflammatory activity: evaluation of a new screening procedure

Acetaminophen, ascorbic acid, aspirin, dexamethasone, indomethacin, and phenylbutazone were tested to evaluate a new antiinflammatory screen. The basic methodology of Rassaert (1) was employed with slight modifications. The technique employs a 50-mm length of cotton twine instead of a cotton pellet. The data confirm the ability of this technique to rapidly screen activity of a variety of chemicals having antiinflammatory activity. It appears that statistically significant reductions in granuloma weight range between 10% and 50%, depending on the test compound and dose employed. This technique demonstrates activity for compounds such as aspirin and acetaminophen only at extremely high doses. However, more potent agents are detectable at more reasonable dose levels. Ascorbic acid, which has been shown to have activity in other models, was inactive in this assay. Dexamethasone was the most active agent, followed by indomethacin and phenylbutazone. Duplicate assays of selected agents showed a satisfactory degree of reproducibility.