Review

Antimicrobial activity of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs with respect to immunological response: Diclofenac sodium as a case study

Umaru, Titilayo¹, Nwamba, Charles O.^2*, Kolo, Ibrahim¹ and Nwodo, Uchechukwu U.³

¹Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), Idu-Abuja. P. M. B 21, Abuja.

²Department of Biochemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State.

³Department of Microbiology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), Enugu State.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: charles.nwamba@unn.edu.ng or charlesquemo@yahoo.com. Tel: 0803 441 9424.

Accepted 26 November, 2009

   Abstract

The non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as the name implies are compounds of non-steroidal origin, with the capability of inhibiting/reducing inflammatory response associated with tissue injury which could be as a result of physical trauma, noxious chemicals or microorganisms. There is however reason to believe that these drugs, which confound disease progression by suppressing fever, pain and attenuating some of the cardinal manifestations of inflammation in a patient actually lessen the immunologic response to bacterial infection. This seemingly paradoxical property is the birth of this mini review. This review aims at invalidating the claims that NSAIDs in general lessen the immunological response to microbial infections by examining the antimicrobial properties of diclofenac sodium, an NSAID.

Key words: Immunologic response, inflammation, NSAIDs, Diclofenac, biofilms.