Adult human articular cartilage has been maintained in organ culture for 8 days, and the culture medium, which was changed on alternate days, was pooled. Normal and rheumatoid cartilage was obtained from patients and 4 types of culture were prepared: (1) cartilage alone; (2) cartilage + D-penicillamine; (3) cartilage + homologous synovium; (4) cartilage, synovium, and D-penicillamine. The hexos...

In view of promising, but uncontrolled, reports of the use of D-penicillamine in active chronic hepatitis, a randomised, prospective, controlled trial of this drug against prednisone was carried out. Of the 35 patients entered, 18 received D-penicillamine (increasing to 1-2 g daily) and 17 prednisone (15 mg daily). In all patients the disease had already been brought under biochemical control w...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the duration of treatment and the reasons for discontinuing therapy with disease modifying antirheumatic drugs in Spanish rheumatoid arthritis patients. METHODS An observational study was made of 629 patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated with disease modifying antirheumatic drugs between 1979 and 1991. The outcomes (treatment termination because of toxicity and lac...

Serum copper and zinc concentrations and 24 hour urinary copper and zinc excretion were determined serially from the beginning of treatment with D-penicillamine in four children with Wilson's disease. The data show a progressive decrease in both serum copper and zinc concentrations in all. Urinary copper excretion gradually levelled off to approximately 50% of initial values, but zinc excretion...