(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new study reveals there may be a more effective way to deliver drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis, according to researchers from the University of California, San Diego.

The study reveals the very same drugs currently used to relieve the joint pain and inflammation of RA may now work even better if administered using a different method.

The body monitors the pain and inflammation associated with RA using the central nervous system, which includes the brain and spinal cord. Previous data shows the central nervous system can regulate inflammation, but doctors needed more research to find out exactly how this happens.

Researchers focused on a protein called p38. Several substances that block the action of p38 are effective when tested on rats and in clinical trials with patients suffering from RA.

The researchers induced inflammation in the joints of rats and then looked for responses in their spinal cords. They found that inflammation activated p38 in the spinal cord. Then they blocked p38 with drugs directly delivered to the spinal cord of the arthritic rats. This dramatically reduced inflammation, compared to rats that received no active drug.

Next they injected the same amount of active drugs underneath the skin of rats, but that location didn't produce the same beneficial effects seen when the drugs were administered directly into the spine.

According to the researchers, the method of administering directly to the spinal cord may improve the benefits, reduce the side effects -- and possibly even the costs -- of p38 blockers without compromising the benefits for patients.

SOURCE: Public Library of Science Medicine, 2006, 3:e338