The influence of anti-inflammatory compounds on some effects of BCG in the rat.

In the rat, intravenous injection of BCG induced an increase in complement activity, oxidative activity towards paraphenylenediamine and serum haptoglobin level. A strong correlation was shown between oxidative activity and haptoglobin level. These increases were inhibited by glucocorticoids (cortisone, dexamethasone, methylprednisolone) but not by two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (indometacin, phenylbutazone). It is suggested that these BCG effects are related to the release of macrophage constituents and that this is inhibited by glucocorticoids.