THE EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION OF ARTHRITIS

Journal/Book: Reprinted from: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases Vol. 19 No. 4 (1960) 297. 1960;

Abstract: Pathology Department University of Edinburgh and the Rheumatic Research Unit Northern General Hospital Edinburgh Summary The cause of rheumatoid arthritis is not known. One of the reasons for this lack of understanding may be the absence of a true experimental replica of the disease. As part of an approach to this problem a review has been made of the principal methods which have been described for producing arthritis experimentally. The methods considered chronologically have been divided for convenience into five groups: infective chemical endocrinological immunological and physical. The conclusion is reached that none of the forms of experimental arthritis at present known bears more than a superficial similarity to rheumatoid arthritis in the human. lt appears possible that this disease may be confined to man or to the primates. The suggestion is made that our understanding of the aetiology and pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis may be better advanced by a concentration of experiment an the organ and tissue responses in man and the anthropoid apes than by a dissipation of effort an the laboratory study of arthritis induced in small rodents. I am grateful to Mr. G. R. Pendrill M.A. Librarian to the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh for help with the bibliography and to Professor G. L. Montgomery and Dr. J. J. R. Duthie for their advice. . . .

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