Electronic Microscopy aspects of experimentally induced chronic arthritis

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic diseases are responsible for about 38 million deaths annually and repre-sent about 70% of all deaths worldwide. Among these, rheumatoid arthritis is the most com-mon inflammatory rheumatic dis-ease, representing about 10% of all such disorders. Its inci-dence is approximately 1% of the general popula-tion. Material and method: our study aims to create an experimental model of chronic arthritis on Wistar rats, fe-male sex, to follow the dynamics of joint inflammatory phenomena, the effects of Leflunomide in their evolu-tion and the side effects at cardiac, hepatic and renal level. Discussions: The group of young experimental animals developed more extensive inflamma-tory phenomena compared to the group of adult animals. Leflunomide did not significantly improve the evolution and resolu-tion of inflammatory phenomena in either group. Conclusions: We showed for the first time in the world the effects of Leflunomide on the heart, with the occur-rence of myocardial necrosis ( myocardial infarction) as its main adverse effect.

Keywords

• arthritis
• leflunomide