OBJECTIVE To investigate the curative effects of oral and nasal administration of chicken type II collagen (CII) on adjuvant arthritis (AA) in rats with meloxicam-induced intestinal lesions. METHODS AA model in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats with or without intestinal lesions induced by meloxicam was established and those rats were divided randomly into six groups which included AA model, AA model+meloxicam, AA model+oral CII, AA model+nasal CII, AA model+ meloxicam+oral C II and AA model+meloxicam+nasal CII (n = 12). Rats was treated with meloxicam intragastrically for 7 d from d 14 after immunization with complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA), and then treated with chicken CII intragastrically or nasally for 7 d. Histological changes of right hind knees were examined. Hind paw secondary swelling and intestinal lesions were evaluated. Synoviocyte proliferation was measured by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H tetrazolium bromide (MTT) method. Activities of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and diamine oxidase (DAO) from supernatants of intestinal homogenates were assayed by spectrophotometric analysis. RESULTS Intragastrical administration of meloxicam (1.5 mg/kg) induced multiple intestinal lesions in AA rats. There was a significant decrease of intestinal DAO activities in AA+meloxicam group (P<0.01) and AA model group (P<0.01) compared with normal group. DAO activities of intestinal homogenates in AA+meloxicam group were significantly less than those in AA rats (P<0.01). There was a significant increase of intestinal MPO activities in AA+meloxicam group compared with normal control (P<0.01). Oral or nasal administration of CII (20 microg/kg) could suppress the secondary hind paw swelling(P<0.05 for oral CII; P<0.01 for nasal CII), synoviocyte proliferation (P<0.01) and histopathological degradation in AA rats, but they had no significant effects on DAO and MPO changes. However, oral administration of CII (20 microg/kg) showed the limited efficacy on arthritis in AA+meloxicam model and the curative effects of nasal CII (20 microg/kg) were shown to be more efficient than that of oral CII (20 microg/kg) both in AA model and in AA+meloxicam model (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS Oral administration of CII shows the limited efficacy on arthritis in AA rats with intestinal lesions, and nasal administration of CII is more efficient than oral administration of CII to induce mucosal tolerance in AA rats.