XIV. TIIF.IJAPKUTK" ACTIVITY 83 



PABA was used alone hy K<)soiil)luni and Frascr^'' in tlio trcatmoni of 

 acute ilu'uinatic lexer in nine children. 'I'he dosage schedule involved an 

 iinniediate dose of 8 to t fi;. followed l)y a maintenance dose of 1 to 8 ir,. 

 jliven at 2- to 3-liour int(M-\als. That PABA has some eft'ecl alone in the 

 treatment of acute rheumatic fe\er was indicated hy ;i decrease in tem- 

 perature, a decrease in severity of joint pains, and the at taimiient of a sense 

 of well being. 



PABA and cortisone have been found by Wiesel d al.^^ to function syner- 

 gistically in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. A trial of the comi)ina- 

 tion appeared warranted for two reasons. Firstly, PABA alone or cortisone 

 alone is active in rheumatoid arthritis. Secondly, the inactivation of es- 

 trogens by the liver is inhibited by 1\\BA,^^ and it might be reasoned that 

 the inactivation of cortisone, a compound closely related to the estrogens 

 in structure, might be similarly prevented, or at least inhibited, by PABA. 

 Although the preliminary paper of Wiesel et al. was limited to a studj' of 

 only 15 patients, the results obtained indicated that a combination of the 

 two drugs at levels where neither is active alone produces satisfactory con- 

 trol of rheumatoid arthritis. The euphoria and subsequent depression 

 frequently observed in patients receiving cortisone alone were not observed 

 on the combination. 



C. ACHROMOTRICHIA 



The reported chromotrichial effect of PABA observed by Ansbacher*^ 

 in the rat and by Alartin and Ansbacher*'' in the mouse stimulated a number 

 of clinical investigators to try PABA against human achromotrichia. 



Sieve^" reported that, in 30 patients from a group ranging in age from 

 20 to 55 in which PABA was the sole therapy, marked darkening of the hair 

 occurred in all cases. The dose of PABA administered was 100 mg. twice a 

 day. Subsequently, Sieve^' reported the beneficial effect of PABA in achro- 

 motrichia in 82 out of 4G0 patients. Another paper by Sieve^' reports a 

 variety of favorable effects, including darkening of the hair, in a group of 

 800 patients. 



Brandaleone et al.^^ have studied achromotrichia in a group of 19 elderly 



" H. Rosenblum and L. E. Fraser, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Med. 65, 178 (1947). 



5" L. L. Wiesel, A. S. Barritt, and W. M. Stumpe, Am. J. Med. Sci. 222, 243 (1951). 



" S. Ansbacher, W. A. Wisansky, and G. J. Martin, Federation Proc. 1, 98 (1942). 



*sS. Ansbacher, Science 93, 164 (1941). 



" G. J. Martin and S. Ansbacher, ./. Biol. Chem. 138, 441 (1941 ). 



-" B. F. Sieve, Science 94, 257 (1941). 



«» B. F Sieve, 161st Ann. Meeting, Mass. Med. Soc, Boston (1942), (luotod t)y S. Ans- 

 bacher, Vitamins and Hormones 2, 215 (1944). 



« B. F. Sieve, Southern Med. and Surg. 104, 135 (1942). 



" H. Brandaleone, E. Main, and J. M. Steele, Proc. Soc. Exptl. Biol. Mid. 53, 47 

 (1943). 



