Abstract
Galantamine is an alkaloid extracted from plant bulbs of some members of the Amaryllidaceae family and is a reversible competitive inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase. GAL affects the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway. Since this effect indicates an immunomodulatory activity, we evaluated the efficacy of galantamine as an anti-inflammatory therapy in vivo in antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) and collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). Mice were randomly divided into two groups: vehicle (treated with 0.9 % saline) and galantamine (GAL 4.4 mg/kg) with intraperitoneal administration. The AIA model was performed in Balb/C mice; nociception and leukocyte migration into the knee joint were evaluated after 24h of monoarthritis induction. The CIA was performed in DBA/1J mice with treatment starting after the disease onset with an 11 days duration. Evaluation of arthritis severity was made by clinical, histological scoring, body weight, edema, nociception, and collagen quantification. Our results showed that galantamine did not alter nociception and leucocyte articular migration in the AIA model and did not alter edema, nociception, clinical and histologic scoring in the CIA model. However, galantamine was able to maintain the collagen content in tibiotarsal joints of mice with CIA. In conclusion, galantamine may prevent collagen degradation in the joint by preserving both collagen content and the thickness of collagen fibers.
Keywords
Antigen-induced arthritis, Collagen-induced arthritis, Galantamine, Inflammation