Mesalazine as a new therapeutic option for chronic idiopathic urticaria.

BACKGROUND: Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU), a debilitating condition, is defined as having urticaria for at least 6 weeks without any obvious cause. Antihistamines and steroids are popular treatments, but other alternatives have been evaluated. Mesalazine may be effective in CIU according to its anti-inflammatory properties via inhibition of 5-lipoxygenase, cycloxygenases, nuclear factor-kappa B activation, T lymphocyte proliferation and antigen stimulated histamine release. METHODS: Mesalazine was administered to 33 patients with CIU, starting at 500 mg/day with weekly incremental dosing to a total of 1 g/day. The patients' dermatology life quality index (DLQI) and symptom scores were recorded before and after 8 weeks of treatment. Screening laboratory tests before and during treatment period were performed. RESULTS: Mesalazine induced a statistically significant decrease in DLQI in 22 (66%) of 33 patients. It is also effective in reducing symptom score in at least half of the patients. The success of treatment was not related to age, sex, drug history and atopy, but was related to duration of the disease in reverse. CONCLUSIONS: Mesalazine seems to be a safe and effective therapy for CIU in reducing DLQI and symptoms.

Abortifacient effect of Prangos ferulacia on pregnant rats.

PURPOSE: Prangos ferulacea grows in southern Iran and used in Iranian herbal medicine for gastrointestinal disorders, but it seems it has an abortifacient effect on pregnant women. To verify its potential as an abortifacient agent, we administered the leaves of this plant to pregnant rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Hydroalcoholic and aqueous extract of the leaves was administered orally at different doses to 60 rats on the first 18 days of pregnancy. Group 1 (G1) was considered as control group and was given only water. Groups 2-5 (G2-G5) received 25, 50, 100 mg/g per day and Groups 6-8 (G6-G8) received 300, 500 and 1000 mg/g per day, respectively. On Day 18 of pregnancy, they were killed and laparotomized. The uterine horns of each group were opened to see whether they contained any live and degenerated/dead fetuses. We used Student's t-test to analyze the data (p < or = .05 was considered significant). RESULTS: Of the total 504 fetuses in the studied groups, 13 fetuses (2.57%) were aborted. The abortion rate in the control group was 2 (1.94%) of 103 fetuses; the abortion rate was higher in the treated groups but not statistically significant. There was no relationship between the dose and type of extract and abortion rate in all studied groups. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the aqueous or hydroalcoholic extract of P. ferulacea is ineffective on the rate of abortion of pregnant rats. Future studies should be performed with higher doses to test the efficacy of this agent on other animals.