Specificity of the anticollagenase action of tetracyclines: relevance to their anti-inflammatory potential.

The concentrations of doxycycline and 4-de-dimethylaminotetracycline required to inhibit 50% of collagenase activity were found to be 15 to 30 microM for human neutrophil and gingival crevicular fluid collagenases. Fibroblast collagenase was relatively resistant to inhibition by tetracyclines; the 50% inhibitory concentrations of doxycycline and 4-de-dimethylaminotetracycline were 280 and 510 microM, respectively.