Pamidronate increases bone mineral density in women with postmenopausal or steroid-induced osteoporosis.

Introduction: We aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of a cyclic intravenous therapy with pamidronate in patients with postmenopausal or glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis.

Methods: We enrolled 86 Austrian female patients with postmenopausal (n = 69, mean age 68.13 +/- 1.

Evidence for hyaluronan production in the air pouch model in rats.

Objective: The aim of our work was to investigate the presence of hyaluronan (HA) in the rat air pouch and its behaviour in response to inflammatory stimuli.

Methods: HA levels (by a microplate assay) and the leucocyte count were determined in the fluid obtained from air pouches in which acute or subacute inflammation had been induced by the injection of monosodium urate crystals (MSU) or high density polyethylene (HDPE) debris respectively and in relative controls.

Results: In control pouches of both groups, remarkable levels of HA were found; these levels were higher in the very first hours (2475 and 1850 micrograms/l at 6 hrs) and then gradually decreased.

A comparative quantitative morphometric study of cell apoptosis in synovial membranes in psoriatic, reactive and rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: Inflammatory arthritides/synovitides such as psoriatic (PsA), reactive (ReA) and rheumatoid (RA) arthritis share numerous immunopathological features, but develop different patterns of joint involvement. To investigate whether distinctive cell apoptosis may play a role in this context, we have assessed synovial cell apoptosis in situ in PsA and ReA, and compared it with RA and 'non-inflammatory' controls.

Methods: TdT-mediated dUTP nick end-labelling (TUNEL) of DNA breaks complemented immunoperoxidase staining for CD68 or LCA as the specific cell markers.

Are Angiotensin Converting Enzyme and von Willebrand factor circulating levels useful surrogate parameters to monitor disease activity in Kawasaki disease?

To verify if Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) and von Willebrand factor (vWF) may be used as a laboratory marker for the follow-up of endothelial derangement and therapeutic efficacy in Kawasaki disease (KD), circulating ACE, vWF routine hematological tests and cardiac involvement were assessed in 32 children with established diagnosis of KD before and up to six months after intravenous gamma-globulins (i.v.IG) treatment.

T cell derived cytokines in psoriatic arthritis synovial fluids.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the concentrations of T cell derived cytokines in the synovial fluids (SFs) of patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in comparison with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: Th1 type cytokines (interleukin 2 (IL2), tumour necrosis factor beta (TNF beta), and interferon gamma (INF gamma) and Th2 type cytokines (IL4, IL10) were measured by means of enzyme linked immunosorbent assays.

Results: IL2 was usually not detectable in any of the disease groups.

Interleukin-11 (IL-11) in aseptic loosening of total hip replacement (THR).

The chronic inflammatory response to abrasion particles from total hip replacement (THR) is believed to cause osteolysis and to contribute to prosthetic loosening. The expression of interleukin-11(IL-11) and its major cellular sources in the interface and pseudocapsular tissues obtained from total hip revisions performed for aseptic loosening were investigated. The avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) and alkaline phosphatase-anti-alkaline phosphatase (APAAP) methods were used for staining and VIDAS image analysis for quantification.

Synoviocytes from osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis produce plasminogen activators and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 and display u-PA receptors on their surface.

The production of plasminogen activators and their inhibitors was studied in vitro in osteoarthritic (OA) and rheumatoid arthritic (RA) synovial fibroblasts (SF), obtained from RA and OA patients undergoing joint surgery. Subcultured SF were cultivated for 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 13 days and the medium assayed for the presence of both plasminogen activators (PAs) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1). The presence of urokinase-Plasminogen Activator (u-PA) receptors (u-PAR) on the surface of synovial cells was investigated by radio-ligand binding assay and cross-linking and by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of a gold-u-PA complex.

Upregulation of cytokine receptors sTNF-R55, sTNF-R75, and sIL-2R in psoriatic arthritis synovial fluid.

Objective: To assess differences in soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 55 (sTNF-R55), sTNF-R75, and soluble interleukin 2 receptor (sIL-2R) in synovial fluid (SF) of patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), a seronegative inflammatory joint disease, in comparison with those of patients with rheumatoid arthiritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: sIL-R were measured in SF with commercial sandwich ELISA and the results correlated with serological and clinical disease activity variables.

Results: In PsA SF the level of sTNF-R55 was 11.

Highly increased levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and other proinflammatory cytokines in psoriatic arthritis synovial fluid.

Objective: To investigate the potential role of cytokines in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) by assessing the profiles of the proinflammatory cytokines in synovial fluid (SF) of PsA in comparison with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA).

Methods: Levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin 1 (IL-1), IL-6, and IL-8 were measured in SF using ELISA.

Results: Levels of TNF-alpha, IL-1beta, and IL-8 were significantly higher in PsA SF than in OA SF, although lower than in RA SF.

Increased circulating nerve growth factor is directly correlated with disease activity in juvenile chronic arthritis.

Objective: To determine the circulating serum concentrations of nerve growth factor (NGF) and compare them with indices of disease activity in juvenile chronic arthritis.

Methods: NGF concentrations were evaluated with a two site immunoenzymatic assay (ELISA), in 17 children with systemic, 39 with polyarticular, and 24 with pauciarticular onset juvenile chronic arthritis. Each subset was divided according to different variables, appropriate to each subset, reflecting active and inactive disease.

Low serum hyaluronan in psoriatic arthritis patients in comparison to rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Objective: Serum hyaluronan (HA) was determined in 37 patients suffering from psoriatic arthritis (PSA), 39 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 31 with osteoarthritic joint disease (OA) and 26 healthy controls (C) in order to examine earlier reports that HA levels are increased in the serum of RA and to assess whether this finding is also relevant for PSA, another inflammatory joint disease, since HA in serum is considered a sign of inflammation in general.

Method: HA in the serum samples was measured with an enzyme linked microplate assay.

Results: Sera from PSA, RA and OA patients showed a significantly higher HA concentration than those of healthy controls (56.

Auranofin and its combination with LTB4 influences ATP level and migration of human polymorphonuclear cells in vitro.

Auranofin (AF), an orally administered antirheumatic drug, reduces the ATP level of PMN cells in vitro in a dose-dependent manner and provokes various effects on PMN migration. Under the experimental conditions, AF in concentrations between 10(-8) M and 10(-3) M produced a statistically significant (P < 0.05) dose-related reduction in ATP level, which ranged from 89% of the control value with 10(-8) M AF to 46.

High free and latent collagenase activity in psoriatic arthritis synovial fluids.

Collagenase activity has been studied intensively in SF from OA and RA patients. Less is known about collagenolytic activity in PsA SF. Therefore we examined collagenolytic activity in crude and trypsin treated SF as well as the alpha 1-antitrypsin and alpha 2-macroglobulin concentrations in 50 patients suffering from OA (n = 13), RA (n = 17), and PsA (n = 20).

[The enzymatic mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis and arthrosis. The role of metalloproteases and serine proteases in the breakdown of articular cartilage].

Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis, expression, respectively, of inflammatory and degenerative articular involvement, are the most important diseases affecting joint cartilage. Proteolytic enzymes are the effectors of the articular damage: their increased production by chondrocytes and synoviocytes leads to cartilage breakdown. These enzymes, whose structure and specific activities have been defined in the recent years, carry out their action in the extracellular matrix.

Capsaicin stimulates the migration of human polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) in vitro.

Capsaicin, a homovanillic acid derivative in plants, has distinct pharmacological effects in vivo, e.g. it depletes primary afferent neurons of substance P and other tachykinins.

Neutral endopeptidase (3.4.24.11) in plasma and synovial fluid of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. A marker of disease activity or a regulator of pain and inflammation?

In recent years the role of the peripheral nervous system has been focused on the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In particular, substance P (SP), released by the sensory terminals, has been demonstrated to be involved in cartilage breakdown [13]. The aim of our work was to study the levels of SP and its peptidases, neutral endopeptidase (3.

Influence of mofebutazone in comparison to phenylbutazone on the adenosine triphosphate level of polymorphonuclear cells and their migration.

Two pyrazolon derivatives--mofebutazone (CAS 2210-63-1) and phenylbutazone (CAS 50-33-9)--were compared as to their effects on the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) level of polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs) and their response to the migration of these cells. In the range of 10(-8) to 10(-3) mol/l neither mofebutazone nor phenylbutazone significantly changed the ATP level of PMNs. Compared to the untreated PMNs only phenylbutazone reduced the migration of PMNs significantly (chemotactic index (CI) 0.

Effect of substance P and somatostatin on migration of polymorphonuclear (PMN) cells in vitro.

The effects of the two neuropeptides, substance P (SP) and somatostatin (SOM), on the migration of polymorphonuclear cells derived from 13 volunteers were investigated. The neuropeptides were applied in concentrations between 10(-12) and 10(-6) M. Only at a concentration of 10(-6) M SP did the chemotaxis of PMN cells increase slightly but statistically significantly.

Gold salts and somatostatin: a new combined analgesic treatment for psoriatic arthritis.

In a group of patients affected with psoriatic arthritis the effects of the association between gold salts (GS) and somatostatin (SOM), in comparison with two groups treated with SOM and GS respectively, were investigated. Sixty patients with psoriatic arthritis were selected and randomly allocated in three groups of twenty patients each. Group 1 received SOM infusion (250 micrograms/h for 96 h) and was assessed at baseline and 1, 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 days after; Group 2 received intramuscular GS and was assessed at baseline, four months later, and then every month for four months; Group 3 received GS for 8 months; at the fourth month SOM was infused (as in Group 1) and the patients assessed at baseline four months later and then as Group 1.

An indirect bioluminescence method for the quantitative measurement of polymorphonuclear cell chemotaxis.

A method is presented which allows the quantification of the effects of chemotactic factors on polymorphonuclear leukocytes on the basis of a sensitive ATP measurement using bioluminescence. The assay measures those cells which have migrated through a commercial 3 micron filter system (Transwell). The assay was tested under standardized conditions with different chemotactic agents (leukotriene B4 [LTB4], N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine [FMLP], N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine-methyl ester [M-FMLP]).

Complement C3 cleavage product in synovial fluids detected by immunofixation.

54 synovial fluids (SFs), 46 of them derived from various inflammatory diseases (30 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) SFs, 8 undefined arthritis (UA) SFs, 8 psoriatic arthritis (PSA) SFs) and 8 SFs from degenerative joint diseases (OA) were tested for C3c split product, using the immunofixation method. There were significant differences in the C3c product between the four groups investigated. In the OA group in the mean the percentage of C3c was low in comparison to the native C3 (C3c = 2.