CANNULATED SPONGE IMPLANTS IN RATS FOR THE STUDY OF TIME-DEPENDENT PHARMACOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON INFLAMMATORY GRANULOMATA

An experimental granuloma method is described which consists essentially of implanting carrageenin-impregnated polyether sponges, provided with a polythene cannula, into dorsal subdermal tissue of rats. The cannula is exteriorized at the back of the neck and allows the administration of drugs into the sponge implant at any chosen time during the different phases of granuloma development. The value of the method is illustrated by brief reference to the effects of PGEs and the phenolic antioxidant, MK-447, on exudative and proliferative components of 8-day inflammatory granulomata. With each of the substances, the effects were either facilitary or inhibitory depending on the time at which the administration into the inflamed site took place. © 1979.