A battery of drugs with antirheumatic properties was tested for effects on the progress of osteoarthritis induced by a lateral meniscectomy procedure in knee joint cartilage of rabbits. Oral administration of the potent glucocorticoids, paramethasone acetate or triamcinolone, resulted in dramatic inhibition of cartilage degeneration. Significant protection against development of osteoarthritic lesions was also observed in rabbits treated with pirprofen or CGS 5391B but not with 9 other nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. A marked reduction in joint pathology was also observed in rabbits treated with tribenoside (a glucofuranoside derivative) and with tamoxifen (an anti‐estrogen). Slightly protective effects of borderline significance were observed with orgotein (a superoxide dismutase), gold sodium thiomalate, and D‐penicillamine. Chloroquine and calcitonin were without effect. Therapeutic effectiveness of drugs in this model of osteoarthritis cannot be explained on the basis of their antiinflammatory properties.

A large number of compounds can modify the function, synthesis, or metabolism of steroid hormones. These are not necessarily otherwise related chemically or pharmacologically. The drugs used as examples in this review were selected to show the wide variety of potential sites and modes of action. While many compounds have been shown to interfere with one or another step in the biosynthesis of corticosteroids, the number of known substances having any profound effect on gonadal steroidogenesis is surprisingly few. On the other hand, many more compounds are known either to mimic or modify the end‐organ response to gonadal than to adrenal steroids. The field of endocrine pharmacology is being rapidly widened as systematic searches are now being made for drugs which affect endocrine function either as a primary or incidental action.

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