Sarcoma granulocítico com apresentação inicial cutânea e ganglionar: [carta ao editor] / Granulocytic sarcoma of skin and lymph nodes: [letter to the editor]

A case of granulocytic sarcoma of skin and lymph nodes is reported in a 65-year-old man as an initial presentation of a myeloproliferative disorder, chiefly involving myelofibrosis. The symptoms, physical examination, hematological findings, imunohistochemistry and anatomopathological results and evolution of the disease are described. As this is an unusual case, stress was placed on the diagnostic confusion that may occur.

Anti-nociceptive effect of thalidomide on zymosan-induced experimental articular incapacitation.

The anti-nociceptive effect of thalidomide on zymosan-induced articular knee joint incapacitation in rats was investigated. Thalidomide (5-45 mg/kg), given 30 min before but not 2 h after the intra-articular injection of zymosan, inhibited the nociceptive response in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, thalidomide pretreatment significantly reduced the concentration of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha, -68.4%) in the exudate of zymosan-injected joints, but not those of interleukin-1beta, interleukin-6, CINC-1 or interleukin-10. The expression of TNF-alpha, determined by immunohistochemical staining, in synovial tissues obtained from articular joints injected with zymosan was also inhibited by thalidomide pretreatment. The anti-nociceptive effect of thalidomide was not reversed by the co-administration of an opioid receptor antagonist, naloxone, suggesting that endogenous opioids do not mediate the anti-nociceptive effect of thalidomide in this model. In conclusion, the anti-nociceptive activity of thalidomide in zymosan-induced articular incapacitation is associated with the inhibition of TNF-alpha by resident synovial cells.

Antihyperalgesic effect of pentoxifylline on experimental inflammatory pain.

The antihyperalgesic effect of pentoxifylline was investigated in three experimental pain models. Pentoxifylline (0.5-1.6 mg kg(-1)) given 30 min before the stimulus significantly inhibited the writhing response induced by the intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of either acetic acid (-90%) or zymosan (-83%), but not that of iloprost, in mice, as well as the zymosan-induced articular hyperalgesia in the zymosan arthritis in rats (-50%). Pentoxifylline also inhibited the mechanical hypernociception in rats induced by the intraplantar injection of either carrageenin (-81%), bradykinin (-56%) or tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha; -46%), but not that induced by interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) or prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)). Pentoxifylline did not inhibit the nociceptive response in the hot plate test in mice. Further, the antinociceptive effect of pentoxifylline in the writhing test in mice and the zymosan-induced articular hyperalgesia were not reversed by the coadministration of the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone. Thus, pentoxifylline antinociceptive effect is probably not mediated at a central level. Pentoxifylline significantly reduced TNF-alpha (-43%) and IL-1beta (-42%) concentrations in the joint exudates of rats stimulated by intra-articular injection of zymosan and the production of both cytokines (-66 and -86%, respectively) by mouse peritoneal macrophages stimulated in vivo with zymosan as well as the expression of TNF-alpha at the tissue level in carrageenin-injected rat paws. In conclusion, the antinociceptive activity of pentoxifylline is associated with the inhibition of the release of both TNF-alpha and IL-1beta.