No abstract

The treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with the use of alcohol extracts of Capsicum annuum L. is widely practiced in traditional medicine on the territory of southern Ukraine. The purpose of this study was the experimental evaluation of the effectiveness of these traditional methods. The inflammatory process induced by administration of Freund's complete adjuvant into the young male rats was used as the experimental model of rheumatoid arthritis. Ibuprofen was applied as a reference drug of official medicine. The treatment effectiveness was assessed by changes in the morphological parameters of inflammation, as well as changes in the differential white blood cell count, serum concentration of alpha-1-acid glycoprotein, and acetylcholinesterase activity. It was demonstrated that the use of alcohol extracts of Capsicum annuum L. reduced the severity of nonspecific inflammation -edema decreased (by 50-60% in relation to the control group of animals), white blood cell left shift decreased, and the amount of alpha-1acid glycoprotein in the blood decreased. Treatment of animals with extracts of Capsicum annuum L. prevented the development of autoimmune inflammation. The result of work was experimental evidence of significant therapeutic effectiveness of alcohol extracts of Capsicum annuum L. in case of rheumatoid arthritis.