Background-Nonadherence to antihypertensive treatment is a common problem in cardiovascular prevention and may influence prognosis. We explored predictors of adherence to antihypertensive treatment and the association of adherence with acute cardiovascular events.

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1 The nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) is a transcription factor which plays a pivotal role in the induction of genes involved in physiological processes as well as in the response to injury and in¯ammation. Dithiocarbamates are antioxidants which are potent inhibitors of NF-kB. 2 We postulated that pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC) would attenuate in¯ammation. In the present study we investigate the e ects of PDTC in animal models of acute and chronic in¯ammation (carrageenan-induced pleurisy and collagen-induced arthritis). 3 We report here for the ®rst time that PDTC (given at 100, 30 or 10 mg kg 71 i.p. in the pleurisy model or at 10 mg kg 71 i.p. every 48 h in the arthritis model) exerts potent anti-in¯ammatory e ects (e.g. signi®cant reduction of (A) pleural exudate formation, (B) polymorphonuclear cell in®ltration, (C) lipid peroxidation, (D) inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) activity and nitric oxide production (E) plasma and pleural exudates levels of interleukin-1b and tumour necrosis factor-a, (F) histological injury and (G) delayed development of clinical indicators). 4 Furthermore, PDTC reduced immunohistochemical evidence of (A) formation of nitrotyrosine, (B) activation of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), (C) expression of iNOS and (D) expression of cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) in the lungs of carrageenan-treated mice and in the joints from collagen-treated mice. 5 Additionally, Western blotting and immunohistochemical analysis of lung tissue revealed that PDTC prevented degradation of IKB-a and translocation of NF-kB from the cytoplasm into the nucleus. 6 Taken together, our results clearly demonstrate that prevention of the activation of NF-kB by PDTC reduces the development of acute and chronic in¯ammation. Therefore, inhibition of NF-kB may represent a novel approach for the therapy of in¯ammation.