The authors state: "Herein, we demonstrate that DMSO has ex-vivo anti-inflammatory activity using Escherichia coli- and herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1)-stimulated whole human blood." They report that "between 0.5%–2%, DMSO significantly suppressed the expression of many pro-inflammatory cytokines/chemokines and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2)." However, they also note that "a significant reduction in monocyte viability was also observed at 2% DMSO, suggesting a narrow window of efficacy." Mechanistically, "anti-inflammatory concentrations of DMSO suppressed E. coli-induced ERK1/2, p38, JNK and Akt phosphorylation, suggesting DMSO acts on these signaling pathways to suppress inflammatory cytokine/chemokine production."

The medical uses of DMSO have generally fallen into three functional categories encompassing tissue/organ preservation, penetration-enhancing solvent excipients, and **active pharmaceutical agents, primarily anti-inflammatory**. The focus in most of these earlier studies was the demonstration of **anti-inflammatory properties delivered locally rather than systemically**. A systematic review performed by Duimel-Peeters et al. looked at the efficacy of topical DMSO on wound healing of decubitus ulcers and its use as an **anti-inflammatory drug**; the effects reported were beneficial, with outcome measures including reduction of erythema and decreased signs of inflammation such as rubor, dolor, calor, and tumor.

This 12‑week, double‑blind, double‑dummy randomized controlled trial in 775 subjects with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis compared topical diclofenac in a DMSO vehicle, placebo solution, the DMSO vehicle alone, oral diclofenac, and the combination of topical plus oral diclofenac. The authors report that "TDiclo was superior to placebo for pain... and was superior to DMSO vehicle for all efficacy variables." They further state: "No significant difference was observed between DMSO vehicle and placebo," indicating that the DMSO-containing vehicle alone did not provide additional anti‑inflammatory or symptomatic benefit over placebo in this setting.

The objective of this systematic review is "to evaluate the existing evidence from randomised controlled trials" of DMSO and MSM in osteoarthritis to determine their efficacy and safety profile. The authors state that six studies were included, four of which evaluated DMSO in osteoarthritis of the knee (297 patients on active treatment). Two of the four DMSO trials reported significant improvement in pain outcomes compared to comparator treatments, but the authors highlight "poor methodology including; possible unblinding, and questionable treatment duration and dose" and conclude that "no definitive conclusion can currently be drawn for either supplement" and that further studies are required to determine efficacy and safety.

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) are two chemically related substances that have been studied for osteoarthritis, a chronic condition that involves **inflammation of the joints**. Only a small amount of research has been conducted on DMSO or MSM for osteoarthritis, and **no conclusions can be reached about whether either of these substances is helpful**. The safety of DMSO and MSM is uncertain because **little research has been done on this topic**.

This systematic review included 109 studies describing adverse reactions to DMSO in humans, across routes including topical, oral, intravesical and intravenous. The authors conclude: "DMSO may cause a variety of adverse reactions that are mostly transient and mild" and that "DMSO seems to be safe to use in small doses." Although the focus is safety rather than efficacy, the paper notes widespread human use of DMSO in clinical contexts (e.g., as a bladder instillation for interstitial cystitis, topical preparations, and as a cryoprotectant in stem cell infusions), which are based partly on its anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties described in earlier pharmacologic literature.

This randomized, double-blind study evaluated intravesical instillations of a solution containing **dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), heparin, and hydrocortisone** in patients with interstitial cystitis, an **inflammatory bladder syndrome**. The rationale for including DMSO is its historical use as an **anti-inflammatory and analgesic agent** in the bladder. Outcome measures included changes in pain and urinary symptoms, which are driven in part by bladder inflammation, although the trial design does not isolate the independent anti-inflammatory effect of DMSO from the other components.

The Canadian military health fact sheet states: "While DMSO may help to reduce the pain associated with some musculoskeletal injuries, it has not been shown to be of any anti-inflammatory benefit." It notes that in inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, "DMSO is thought to work as a counter irritant that temporarily reduces the patient’s perception of pain. Its exact mechanism of action remains poorly understood." The document also concludes that "there is very little scientifically valid research to show that DMSO is helpful for any medical condition including its approved medical uses."

In this systematic review of clinical trials of DMSO for inflammatory musculoskeletal conditions, the authors identified a small number of randomized and non‑randomized studies with varying concentrations and formulations. They report that evidence from controlled trials is limited and methodologically weak, and that results are inconsistent, with some lower‑concentration preparations showing modest symptomatic improvement and higher‑concentration trials often being negative. The review concludes that there is insufficient high‑quality evidence to support DMSO as an effective anti‑inflammatory treatment in these conditions and calls for better‑designed randomized controlled trials.

DMSO is **FDA-approved** as a prescription medicine for the treatment of a bladder condition called **interstitial cystitis (bladder inflammation)**, in which washing the bladder with DMSO improves symptoms such as pain. DMSO is also used topically to decrease pain and speed the healing of wounds, burns, and muscle and skeletal injuries, and it is "used topically to treat painful conditions such as headache, **inflammation**, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis." For osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, the entry notes that **early research suggests that applying DMSO to the skin might help decrease symptoms**, but more evidence is needed to rate effectiveness.

In this randomized double-blind human trial of acute musculoskeletal injuries, patients received a 25% DMSO gel or placebo. The abstract reports that "patients treated with 25% DMSO gel experienced a significant reduction in pain and swelling compared with placebo" over the short term. The authors describe DMSO as having "analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties" when applied topically, but the study primarily measures symptomatic outcomes (pain, swelling) rather than biochemical inflammatory markers.

This clinical review summarizes controlled trials of topical DMSO, primarily in complex regional pain syndrome type 1 (CRPS I). It notes that studies have shown DMSO to impact "a wide range of physiological processes, including the inflammatory process, the cell cycle, apoptosis, and lipid metabolism," but in human trials it functions mainly as an analgesic. One cited double‑blind study of 112 patients using 25% DMSO gel versus placebo for 3 weeks found significantly improved pain scores with DMSO; however, measurements of "pain, tenderness, swelling, and range of motion showed no significant differences between the groups," indicating no clear clinical anti‑inflammatory effect despite pain relief.

In this randomized, double‑blind, placebo‑controlled trial in patients with complex regional pain syndrome, subjects were assigned to 50% DMSO cream or placebo, in addition to physical therapy. After two months, both groups showed significant improvements in pain and overall symptom scores compared to baseline, but "no significant differences were found between the two groups for pain reduction." An overall impairment level score improved similarly in both groups, and objective measures including swelling and range of motion did not differ, suggesting no distinct anti‑inflammatory advantage of topical DMSO over placebo.

The article describes DMSO as "a liquid that may possess anti-inflammatory properties" and notes that it has gained popularity as a potential treatment for arthritis symptoms "mostly due to its ability to reduce pain and inflammation." However, it repeatedly emphasizes that for arthritis "there is no scientific evidence proving its efficacy" and that current support is largely anecdotal. It also notes that the FDA has only approved DMSO to treat interstitial cystitis, not inflammatory joint conditions such as arthritis.

This phase II clinical trial investigated intravenous **dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)** in patients with acute ischemic stroke. The authors note that DMSO "has been reported to have **anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and hydroxyl radical scavenging properties**" in experimental models and that these properties formed part of the rationale for testing it in stroke. In this human study, the primary endpoints were neurologic outcomes and safety; the trial demonstrated feasibility and some trends but was not powered to definitively establish clinical benefit, and it did **not include direct biomarkers of inflammation**.

In this randomized, double-blind study of patients with **interstitial cystitis**, subjects received intravesical instillation of **50% dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)** or placebo. The authors report that patients treated with DMSO showed **significant improvement in pain, urgency, and bladder capacity** compared with placebo. Interstitial cystitis is characterized by chronic **inflammation of the bladder wall**, and DMSO's clinical benefit in this context has been attributed in part to its **local anti-inflammatory and analgesic actions**, although the study did not separately quantify changes in inflammatory markers.

This double-blind clinical study in patients with acute tendinitis compared a 25% DMSO gel to placebo. The authors state that "the DMSO group showed significantly greater improvement in pain and tenderness" and reduction in swelling than the placebo group during the treatment period. They characterize DMSO as having "topical anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects," although the outcomes assessed were clinical signs such as pain and local swelling rather than systemic inflammatory markers.

Regulatory product information for medicinal DMSO solutions used intravesically for interstitial cystitis describes the pharmacodynamic properties as including "analgesic, anti-inflammatory and muscle-relaxant effects on the bladder wall." The summary notes that DMSO "reduces inflammation of the bladder mucosa" in patients with interstitial cystitis, although the precise mechanism is not fully elucidated and may involve multiple actions such as scavenging of free radicals and modulation of local inflammatory mediators.

In this double-blind clinical trial, patients with **osteoarthritis of the knee** applied either 70% **dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)** or placebo topically. The investigators state that DMSO "is known to possess **analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties**," providing the rationale for the study. The trial found that patients receiving DMSO had **significant relief of pain and improvement in joint function** compared with placebo over the treatment period, but the study was small and focused on symptoms rather than direct measures of inflammation.

This review of clinical use in interstitial cystitis notes that intravesical DMSO has been approved in some countries for this indication. The authors state that DMSO "has anti-inflammatory, analgesic, muscle-relaxant, and collagen-dissolving properties" and that its therapeutic effect in interstitial cystitis "is believed to result from its anti-inflammatory and analgesic actions on the bladder wall." However, they acknowledge that the exact mechanism is uncertain and that controlled trials are limited and of variable quality.

This double‑blind, placebo‑controlled trial evaluated 25% DMSO gel applied topically to arthritic knees. The investigators reported that patients in the DMSO group experienced significant reductions in pain at rest and during activity compared with placebo. However, they observed no statistically significant differences between DMSO and placebo in objective signs of inflammation such as joint swelling or range of motion, indicating that while DMSO provided analgesic benefit, evidence for a direct anti‑inflammatory effect in this trial was lacking.

In this double‑blind study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, intra‑articular DMSO injections were compared with placebo to assess effects on joint symptoms and inflammation. The authors found some improvement in pain and tenderness in DMSO‑treated joints, but report that there were no consistent or significant differences between DMSO and placebo in joint swelling or other objective inflammatory signs. They conclude that the study does not provide convincing evidence of a specific anti‑inflammatory effect of intra‑articular DMSO in rheumatoid arthritis.

This clinical report describes the use of **topical dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)** to prevent or treat soft tissue injury after **extravasation of chemotherapy agents**, which typically causes intense local inflammation and necrosis. The authors state that application of DMSO resulted in "**dramatic reduction in pain, erythema, and tissue induration**" and prevented development of severe ulceration. These observations are consistent with a **local anti-inflammatory effect** of DMSO in human skin and subcutaneous tissue, although the study is uncontrolled and based on clinical signs rather than laboratory inflammatory markers.

This systematic review of human data on DMSO cytotoxicity notes that DMSO "is widely used as a cryoprotectant and solvent and also as an anti-inflammatory agent in some clinical contexts." It reports that in vitro human cell studies show that DMSO can reduce production of inflammatory cytokines at certain concentrations but can also be cytotoxic at higher doses. The authors emphasize that the concentrations at which anti-inflammatory effects are observed in human cells (often 0.5–2%) are close to levels where cell viability starts to decline, highlighting a narrow therapeutic window.

In this human chondrocyte study, cells stimulated with pro-inflammatory cytokines were treated with varying concentrations of DMSO. The authors report that "low concentrations of DMSO (≤0.5%) had minimal effects, whereas 1–2% DMSO significantly reduced the expression of inflammatory mediators such as IL-6, IL-8 and COX-2" in the chondrocytes. At the same time, they observed that "DMSO at 2% began to show cytotoxicity," suggesting that the anti-inflammatory action in human joint cells occurs at concentrations close to those that impair cell viability.

Reviewing the clinical literature, the article notes that "The scientific evidence for DMSO’s role in treating any disease is **far from convincing**." A systematic review of DMSO in osteoarthritis "unearthed a measly four clinical trials," with higher-concentration trials negative and lower-concentration ones positive but methodologically weak. Even for **interstitial cystitis**, the only disease for which the FDA approved DMSO, a 2017 review found just **three randomized clinical trials**, only one of which used a placebo arm, underscoring that claims about DMSO’s **anti-inflammatory and therapeutic effects in humans rest on limited and often low-quality data**.

In this older clinical paper on DMSO in musculoskeletal disorders, the authors describe its use in conditions such as sprains, strains, and osteoarthritis, and attribute its effects to anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. They report that topical DMSO produced improvement in pain and swelling in many patients, but the trials lacked rigorous randomized, blinded designs by modern standards. The paper is frequently cited historically as evidence that DMSO has anti-inflammatory activity in human soft-tissue and joint disorders, though the quality of evidence is limited.

This controlled clinical study evaluated **topical dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)** in patients with **rheumatoid arthritis**, a systemic inflammatory joint disease. The authors note that DMSO has "**analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects in experimental models**" and sought to determine its clinical value. The trial reported some improvement in pain and joint tenderness in the DMSO group, but the overall results were **inconsistent and not clearly superior to control**, and inflammatory parameters such as ESR and CRP did not show marked changes, leaving its anti-inflammatory efficacy in human rheumatoid arthritis uncertain.

This review discusses the pharmacology of DMSO as it relates to inflammatory pain. It describes DMSO as having both analgesic and anti-inflammatory actions, citing animal and human data showing that DMSO can reduce edema and inflammatory responses. The authors note that in clinical practice DMSO has been used topically for painful inflammatory conditions and intravesically for interstitial cystitis, but they also emphasize that robust, large, controlled human trials demonstrating clear anti-inflammatory efficacy are lacking.

This clinical article (cited in secondary sources) reports on the use of intravesical DMSO in inflammatory genitourinary disorders including interstitial cystitis. The authors describe DMSO as having anti-inflammatory, analgesic, muscle-relaxant, and collagen-dissolving properties and note that bladder instillation of DMSO leads to improvement of pain, urgency, and frequency in a subset of patients. The therapeutic rationale presented is that DMSO reduces bladder wall inflammation, although the study design is not a large modern randomized trial.

This overview article summarizes human experience with DMSO, stating that DMSO exhibits anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects through mechanisms including scavenging of free radicals and modulation of prostaglandin synthesis. It reviews small clinical studies where topical or intravesical DMSO reduced symptoms associated with inflammatory conditions, such as osteoarthritis pain and bladder pain in interstitial cystitis. However, the authors also point out that existing human trials are generally small and methodologically heterogeneous, and call for more rigorous studies to confirm the magnitude of anti-inflammatory benefit.

In the United States, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is marketed as a prescription intravesical solution (50% DMSO) under the trade name RIMSO-50 and is **FDA-approved solely for the symptomatic relief of interstitial cystitis**, a chronic inflammatory bladder condition. The approval is based on clinical trials showing improvements in bladder pain and discomfort, which are believed to be mediated in part by DMSO’s **local anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and muscle-relaxant properties**, but the original approval dossier predates modern requirements for detailed inflammatory biomarker endpoints.

This integrative medicine clinic blog claims that "research suggests that topical DMSO may help reduce pain by modulating inflammatory signaling, scavenging free radicals, and improving local microcirculation." It describes DMSO as having "anti‑inflammatory" and antioxidant properties based largely on in vitro and animal studies, and promotes its use for joint pain and soft‑tissue injuries. However, the article does not present new randomized controlled human data and relies on a mechanistic rationale and anecdotal clinical experience for asserting anti‑inflammatory benefits in humans.