Pre-Ischemic Treatment of Pentoxifylline Reduces Infarct Volumes in Transient Focal Cerebral Ischemia in the Rat

Background: pentoxifylline (ptx) is used in human for intermittentclaudication and cerebral vascular disorders includingcerebrovascular dementia . it also inhibits the synthesis of tumornecrosis factor-a (tnf-a), which is believed to be neurotox ic inanimal models of cere bral ischemia. the objective of this studywas to examine the role of ptx on ischemi a/reperfusion inj uresin rat model of transient focal cerebral ischemia induced bymiddle cerebral artery occlusion (mcao) .methods: male sprague dawley rats (n=3 i) were assigned tosham, saline or ptx (30 or 60 mg/kg)-treated groups. ischemiawas induced by mcao, followed by 24-hrs reperfusion.intraperiton eal sa line or ptx was administered at 30 min beforeischemia. neurological deficit score test (nos) was performedafter 24-hrs, and the animals was sacrificed for evaluationof cortic al and striata l infarct volumes using triphen yltetr azoliumchloride staining.results: the sham group did not have neural dysfunction orce rebral infarction. cortica l infar ct volumes in 30 or 60 mg/kgptx-treated groups, 149(plus-minus)12 and 129(plus-minus) 19 mm] respect ively,were signific antly lower than that of sa line-trea ted group (20 8(plus-minus) 12 mrrr'). similar result s were also obtained about the striatalinfarct volumes (39(plus-minus)5 and 40(plus-minus)6 vs. 58(plus-minus)5 rnm') . however,there was no significant difference among the neurol ogicaldysfun ctions from sa line and ptx-t reated rats.conclusion: the results of this study indicate that pentoxifyllinereduced cerebral infarctions, possibl y by diminishing thetn f-a-induced neurotoxic ity in tran sient focal cerebralischemia. this finding also suggests that pentoxifylline mightbe suitable for clinical trials.