Decreased cell mediated cytotoxicity occurs frequently in inflammatory bowel disease, particularly in patients with active disease. It is not clear, however, whether this decrease is caused by the disease or is a consequence of the medical treatment. In this study we evaluated the effect of in vivo treatment with 5-aminosalicylic acid and sulphasalazine on the in vitro natural killer cell activ...

We have validated an established animal model of acute inflammatory bowel disease in indomethacin-treated rats. Studies in both in vitro and in vivo 51chromium-labelled ethylenediamine tetra-acetate (51Cr-EDTA) permeability and tissue myeloperoxidase activity, a marker of inflammatory cell invasion, showed increased permeability and enzyme levels, respectively, in treated animals compared to co...

The fertility of 70 men with Crohn's disease and a group of age matched controls were compared. Crohn's disease was associated with a significant reduction in family size independent of steroid or sulphasalazine treatment.

Sulphasalazine is a drug which is the therapeutic mainly in the prevention of recurrence of ulcerative colitis and is also used in the treatment of active disease. It c?nsists of a sulphonamide (sulphapyridine) and a salicylate (5-amino salicylic acid) component with the 'atter being the active moiety in colitis. However it was 0riginally developed as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (1) an...

Two men with longstanding ulcerative colitis who were treated with sulphasalazine for several years and who developed chronic renal failure are reported. Renal biopsy specimens showed histological changes consistent with drug induced chronic intestinal nephritis. Extensive investigation made other causes of chronic renal failure unlikely. One of these patients underwent renal transplantation, t...