pre-ischemic treatment of pentoxifylline reduces infarct volumes in transient focal cerebral ischemia in the rat

background: pentoxifylline (ptx) is used in human for intermittent claudication and cerebral vascular disorders including cerebrovascular dementia. it also inhibits the synthesis of tumor necrosis factor-α (tnf-α), which is believed to be neurotoxic in animal models of cerebral ischemia. the objective of this study was to examine the role of ptx on ischemia/reperfusion injures in rat model of transient focal cerebral ischemia induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (mcao).   methods: male sprague dawley rats (n=31) were assigned to sham, saline or ptx (30 or 60 mg/kg)-treated groups.  ischemia was induced by mcao, followed by 24-hrs reperfusion. intraperitoneal saline or ptx was administered at 30 min before ischemia. neurological deficit score test (nds) was performed after 24-hrs, and the animals was sacrificed for evaluation of cortical and striatal infarct volumes using triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining.   results: the sham group did not have neural dysfunction or cerebral infarction. cortical infarct volumes in 30 or 60 mg/kg ptx-treated groups, 149±12 and 129±19 mm 3 respectively, were significantly lower than that of saline-treated group (208 ±12 mm 3 ). similar results were also obtained about the striatal infarct volumes (39±5 and 40±6 vs. 58±5 mm 3 ). however, there was no significant difference among the neurological dysfunctions from saline and ptx-treated rats.   conclusion: the results of this study indicate that pentoxifylline reduced cerebral infarctions, possibly by diminishing the tnf-α-induced neurotoxicity in transient focal cerebral ischemia. this finding also suggests that pentoxifylline might be suitable for clinical trials.