Acute
inflammation was induced by injecting
carrageenan into a 6 day old air pouch in mice.
Sodium aurothiomalate was then given twice to each of three groups of mice via different routes. It was found that the mice injected intravenously with
sodium aurothiomalate showed the most striking reduction in the number of exudate leucocytes in the inflammatory cavity, although the amount of
gold found in their inflamed pouch lining tissue was the least. The amount of
gold in plasma was highest in the mice injected intravenously with
sodium aurothiomalate and the least amount of
gold was found in the mice injected directly into the air pouch with
sodium aurothiomalate. The amount of
gold in the inflamed pouch lining tissue reached its peak at 24 hours after injection and a significant decrease of exudate leucocytes was only seen 24 and 72 hours after injection. The amount of
gold in the exudate fluid was negligible at all the times studied. No significant difference was noted in the degree of inflammatory suppression when increasing doses of
sodium aurothiomalate were injected into the air pouch. These findings show that there is no direct correlation between the
gold concentration in the inflamed tissue and suppression of the inflammatory reactions in the cavity. Chemotactic and phagocytic analysis of leucocytes in the exudate showed that there was a significant suppression of the neutrophil activities in all the mice treated with
sodium aurothiomalate. It is therefore concluded that the significant reduction in the number of exudate leucocytes at the
carrageenan induced inflammatory site
after treatment with
sodium aurothiomalate is most likely due to the direct action of
gold on the functional activities of circulating neutrophils.