Sulphasalazine treatment for inflammatory bowel disease in man causes oligospermia, reduced sperm motility and an increased proportion of abnormal forms. On withdrawal of sulphasalazine these effects are found to be reversible and 15 pregnancies occurred at a median of 2.5 months after stopping sulphasalazine therapy. Seminal plasma concentrations of acid phosphatase fructose and PGE2 as well a...

An increased incidence of colonic cancer is associated with chronic inflammatory bowel disease. Sulphasalazine, metronidazole and more recently, modified forms of 5-aminosalicylic acid are used for maintenance therapy of inflammatory bowel disease. In a series of experiments, we used the 1,2-dimethylhydrazine animal model of colonic cancer in conjunction with these drugs, to study the effect on...

5-Aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) is an effective drug for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. A large group of flavonoids was investigated for their inhibitory effects on the N-acetyl-conjugation of 5-ASA in rat hepatocytes and subcellular preparations. When added to cultured hepatocytes, some flavonoids inhibited the production of N-acetyl-5-aminosalicylic acid (5-AcASA) with...

The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of intestinal absorption and metabolism of 5-aminosalicylic acid (5ASA). Regional perfusions of 5ASA in the anesthetized rat resulted in the appearance of N-acetyl-5-aminosalicylic acid in the intestinal lumen. Lumenal metabolite appearance was proportional to 5ASA permeability, which was 5-fold higher in the jejunum than in the ile...

BACKGROUND Approximately 20% of patients with ulcerative colitis become steroid dependent. Azathioprine is recommended in steroid-dependent ulcerative colitis, but its side effects limit its use. Chinese herbal medicine has been widely used to treat ulcerative colitis in China. However, its effectiveness in steroid-dependent patients has not been evaluated. This study aims to investigate the ef...