Modulation of the pharmacological properties of meloxicam by octreotide in rats

The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic and antiulcer properties of somatostatin analogue octreotide (10 and 100 μg/kg) and its influence on the effect of NSAID meloxicam (1 and 2 mg/kg) in rats. Carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema was used as an acute anti-inflammatory model as well as adjuvant-induced arthritis as a chronic model. Hot plate test on rats and acetic acid (0.6%) writhing test were used as acute analgesic models while the plantar test using an infrared beam directed to the paw of arthritic rats was used as a chronic analgesic model. Antipyretic effect was evaluated using Brewer’s yeast (44%) induced hyperthermia in rats while pylorus ligation was used as a model to evaluate the ulcerogenic effects. Meloxicam, octreotide and their combinations administered subcutaneously showed anti-inflammatory effects in both acute and chronic models. Only the high doses of meloxicam and octreotide showed significant analgesic effect in the hot plate test, while all doses showed significant analgesic effects in the acetic acid-induced writhing test and in the plantar test. In yeast-induced hyperthermia, only meloxicam has an antipyretic effect. Meloxicam resulted in profound gastric lesions and exerted deleterious effects on the gastric mucosa in pyloric-ligated rats. Octreotide did not cause any harmful effect on the gastric mucosa, besides; octreotide attenuated the harmful ulcerogenic effects of meloxicam when administered in combination with it. Both meloxicam and octreotide and their combination significantly decreased the malondialdehyde (MDA) content in the arthritic rats indicating their antioxidant effects.