Nanogold-pharmaceutics (i) the use of colloidal gold to treat experimentally-induced arthritis in rat models; (ii) characterization of the gold in Swarna bhasma, a microparticulate used in traditional Indian medicine

Abstract

Nanosized gold particles (27 +/- 3 nm) have been proven to be effective in ameliorating the symptoms of mycobacterial-, collagen- and pristane-induced arthritis in rat models. This contrasts with the drug sodium aurothiomalate that was only effective against mycobacterial-induced arthritis but not to the same extent as Au0. Gold in the traditional Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Swarna bhasma (gold ash), has been characterized as globular particles of gold with an average size of 56-57 nm.