Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation in one or more joints.There are over 100 different forms of arthritis.The most common form of arthritis is osteoarthritis, a result of trauma to the joint, infection of the joint, or age. Other arthritis forms are rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and related autoimmune diseases. Septic arthritis is caused by joint infection. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term autoimmune disorder that primarily affects joints. It typically results in warm, swollen, and painful joints.

Models for rheumatoid arthritis can be used to aid in understanding the mechanism of action of novel anti-inflammatory compounds. Adjuvant administration induced polyarticular and systemic inflammation, which included spleen and liver. In the liver, multifocal hepatic granulomas were observed. Studies indicate that arthritis model is accompanied by an initial increased release of excitatory amino acids (EAA's) at the time of injection which is dependent on the activation of both non-NMDA and NMDA receptors.