ANALGESIC ED₅₀ DICLOFENAC-EUGENOL COMBINATION EFFECT ON PROINFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES – IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα AND MAPKs – IN RAT MUSCLE

Inflammation is a typical response to a wide variety of stressors, including xenobiotics, which can develop a prolonged, severe, and inappropriate inflammatory response that can lead to events at the molecular level degenerating into adverse effects. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of ED50 diclofenac-eugenol (DFC+EUG) combination on proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, TNFα and MAPKs) in rat muscle. The treatments as well as the control solutions were administered in the gastrocnemius muscle and the expression of cytokines and MAPKs was evaluated through an end-point PCR. There were no significant changes in the expression of IL-6, TNFα and MAPKs in healthy rats. In contrast, a statistically significant increase was shown in the relative expression of IL-1β when DFC+EUG was administered vs. the control group. The expression of IL-1β decreased in the group DFC+EUG by the addition of Aloe vera. The obtained data suggested that the DFC+EUG combination causes a moderate increase in the expression of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, but not for the expression of IL-6, TNFα and MAPKs in healthy rats.