Article révisé par les pairs
Résumé : The isolated guinea pig ileum was used to test the agonists to induce smooth muscle contractions in the presence of classical antirheumatic agents. It has been shown that colchicine and vinblastine which are known to increase prostaglandin synthesis can also sensitize the ileal smooth muscles to various agonists as well as d-penicillamine while the gold salts have no such effect. Colchicine appeared to be the most potent age of those tested. It is interesting to note that the two drugs colchicine and d-penicillamine which have similar clinical uses in systemic sclerosis, also show some similar effects in this very simple in vitro model. It is suggested that this model could be used to test antirheumatic agents and the results might indicate the possible use of vinblastine in the treatment of systemic sclerosis.