Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Evaluation of the immunomodulatory activity of meloxicam in vitro and in vivo

Fatima Ghulam¹, Aqeel Javeed¹ , Muhammad Ashraf¹, Shahzada Khurram Syed², Bushra Zahoor¹

¹Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan; ²Department of Basic Medical Sciences, School of Health Sciences, University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan.

For correspondence:- Aqeel Javeed Email: aqeel.javeed@uvas.edu.pk Tel:+924299211374

Accepted: 28 May 2023 Published: 30 June 2023

Citation: Ghulam F, Javeed A, Ashraf M, Syed SK, Zahoor B. Evaluation of the immunomodulatory activity of meloxicam in vitro and in vivo. Trop J Pharm Res 2023; 22(6):1231-1236 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v22i6.12

© 2023 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To demonstrate the immunomodulatory activity of meloxicam based on cellular and humoral immune responses and in mice.

Methods: Cyclophosphamide-induced neutropenia assay and delayed-type hypersensitivity assay (DTH) were carried out to assess cellular immunity. In addition, mouse lethality and haemagglutination assays were carried out to investigate humoral immunity. Meloxicam was administered intraperitoneally in two doses, i.e., 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg to mice.

Results: Cyclophosphamide-induced neutropenia assay data showed a significant decline in differential leukocyte count (DLC) and total leukocytes count (TLC) in the meloxicam administered groups when compared with control group (p < 0.05). In DTH test, meloxicam showed a significant reduction in skin thickness against dinitrochlorobenzene than the control group, respectively (p < 0.05). A significant dose-dependent decline in antibody titre in the meloxicam-treated groups was observed (p < 0.05), while a gradual decrease in antibody titre occurred with increasing dose. However, there was significant rise in mortality ratio with increasing dose of meloxicam (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: The results indicate that meloxicam has immunosuppressive activity in mice, and therefore, can potentially be developed for use in countering organ transplant rejection.

Keywords: Meloxicam, Cellular, Humoral, Neutropenia, Haeamagglutination, Immunity