title: Lethal dose curve: should its determination be made in healthy or in animal models of disease?
abstract: The lethal dose curve of phenylbutazone was assayed in control animals (A) and in animals in which an experimental arthritis had been produced by injection of Feund's complete adjuvant (B). Thirty male Wistar rats 3 months old were divided into two groups of 15 rats each: group A consisted of the control group and group B the adjuvant treated group. Arthritis was produced by a single injection of 0.15 Freund's complete adjuvant on the right footpad. The control group was injected with the adjuvant vehicle at the same site. Injections of 200 mg/kg of phenylbutazone once daily for ten days started fifteen days after administration of Freund's adjuvant. After the first injection of phenylbutazone the LD6.6 in group A corresponded to LD53 in group B while after the second injection the LD46.6 for the control group corresponded to LD100 in group B. We assume that the therapeutic index would be more representative if lethal dose curves were evaluated in animals suffering from a disease that the drug in question has been designated for.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Pharmacology, Medical University of Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: St Papadopulos
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Liapi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000633:toxicity*; D001169:Arthritis, Experimental / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D008297:Male; D010653:Phenylbutazone / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D010653:Phenylbutazone