RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: To study the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of vitacoxib. METHODS: The in vitro COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitory activities of vitacoxib were tested in human whole blood assay as well as canine whole blood assay. The anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of vitacoxib were evaluated in several in vivo models including croton oil induced mouse ear endema, carrageenan-induced rat paw swelling and mouse acetic acid writhing model. RESULTS: In vitro assay, vitacoxib has potent inhibitory COX-2 activity and selectivity for COX-2 over COX-1. In vivo anti-inflammatory experiments, vitacoxib has significant inhibitory activities both in croton oil-induced mouse ear oedema model test(P < 0.01) and the carrageenan-induced rat paw swelling test(P < 0.05). In vivo analgesic effect experiments, vitacoxib has significant inhibitory activity on acetic acid-induced writhing pain in mice (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Vitacoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, demonstrates excellent anti-inflammatory activity in both in vitro and in vivo models tested.