Figure 1.

Treatment with farnesylthiosalicylic acid (FTS) suppresses clinical and radiographic signs of adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA). (a) AIA was induced in Lewis rats by injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA). Rats were treated daily, starting from day 3, with either oral FTS (80 mg/kg) or with 0·5% carboxy methyl cellulose (CMC) as a vehicle control (n = 20 per group). A third group of AIA-treated rats was treated with dexamethasone (0·2 mg/kg) on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 11 (positive control). AIA severity was graded on a histological scale of 0–2, and on a clinical index with a maximal achievable score of 16 (see Materials and methods). The graph shows the mean clinical scores per group daily, from days 11 to 18. **P < 0·05; ***P < 0·001, Student's t-test. (b) Photographs of the front and hind paws of AIA-induced rats (and naive rats where disease was not induced), 16 days after disease induction. (c) On day 16, front and hind paws of AIA and naive rats were scanned (n = 8 per group) by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using a 7T/30 spectrometer (Bruker Biospin, Ettlingen). T2-weighted images (TR = 3222 and TE = 67·2 ms) were sequenced. Fourteen slices, 1·5 mm thick, were acquired. Final image resolution was 0·156 × 0·156 mm³. Representative images are presented (upper panel). Statistical analysis of the results is presented as means ± standard error of the mean (lower panel). ***P < 0·001 compared with vehicle-treated controls; Student's t-test.