[Lysosomotropism and anti-inflammatory action of gold salts].

Gold salts have been widely used in the past 70 years in the treatment of various connective tissue diseases and more particularly in rheumatoid arthritis. However their mechanism of action remains poorly understood. Gold salts are transported in the blood linked with several serum proteins including immunoglobulins. Methods of analytical electron microscopy (Castaing probe) have shown that gold is actively concentrated in the lysosomes of various cell types, including the proximal tubular cells of the kidney and certain bone marrow cells. These data, together with those provided by biochemical techniques, suggest that sodium aurothiopropanol sulfonate modifies the stability of lysosome membranes. In the present study it is shown that the stability of kidney lysosomes of treated rats was increased by 42.4 per cent after treatment for 3 days. This protective action was also seen when lysosomes were subjected to lysis by digitonin. The protective effect of gold salts on the lysosomal membrane may be explained by the formation of chemical complexes between gold and sulfhydryl groups present in the membrane, resulting in stable mercaptic bonds. These findings suggest that the increase in stability of lysosomal membranes plays a significant role in the anti-inflammatory action of gold salts.