Evaluation of the anti-inflammatory activities of diclofenac sodium, prednisolone and atorvastatin in combination with ascorbic acid.

Inflammation is our body's normal defense mechanism, but in some cases, it may be responsible for causing different kinds of disorders. Several anti-inflammatory drugs are present for the ailment of these disorders; however, the conventional anti-inflammatory drugs give side effects when used in long term and therefore it is better to use them in a low dose for a shorter duration of time. This study was designed to find out whether there is an augmentation of the therapeutic effectiveness of the anti-inflammatory drugs like diclofenac sodium (NSAID), prednisolone (steroid) and atorvastatin (statin) when in combination with ascorbic acid (antioxidant).Wistar Rats (n=144) were selected and divided into 24 groups of 6 rats in each. Carrageenan and formalin were used to induce local inflammation and neuropsychiatric effects respectively. The inhibitions of such responses were measured after administering a drug alone and in combination with ascorbic acid.In case of carrageenan mediated inflammation, the combination of 5 mg/kg diclofenac and 200 mg/kg ascorbic acid gave the highest inhibition of 74.19% compared to other groups of drugs. The combination of 5 mg/kg diclofenac and 200 mg/kg ascorbic acid gave 97.25% inhibition for formalin mediated inflammation group. In both cases, combination therapy showed statistically significant anti-inflammatory activities compared to mono therapy (p values <0.05).All the data clearly indicate new combinations of drug therapy comprising of diclofenac sodium, prednisolone, atorvastatin with ascorbic acid, which may be more effective against both local edema and neuropsychiatric effect caused due to inflammation.