title: Beneficial effects of pentoxifylline treatment of experimental acute pancreatitis in rats.
abstract: The purposes of this study were to determine the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels after the induction of acute necrotizing pancreatitis, and to establish the effects of pentoxifylline on cytokine production.
  
  
  METHODS
  acute pancreatitis was induced by the retrograde injection of 200 microliters taurocholic acid into the pancreatic duct in male Wistar rats. The serum amylase activity, the wet pancreatic weight/body weight ratio, and the TNF and IL-6 levels were measured. Seven mg/kg pentoxifylline were administered intraperitoneally at the time of operation 6, 12 or 24 h later. Rats were killed 6, 24, 48 or 72 h after the operation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the TNF bioassay revealed high levels of TNF (30.2 +/- 5.4 U/ml, 35.0 +/- 5.0 U/ml and 36.6 +/- 6.0 U/ml) in the control group at 6, 24 and 48 h and (54.1 +/- 20 U/ml and 10.9 +/- 4.2 U/ml) in the pentoxifylline-treated group at 6 and 24 h, respectively, whereas the level had decreased to zero in the pentoxifylline-treated group at 48 h. The IL-6 bioassay likewise demonstrated high levels of IL-6 in the control group at 48 h and in the pentoxifylline-treated group at 6 and 24 h, and markedly decreased levels in the pentoxifylline-treated group at 48 h (7083 +/- 2844 pg/ml, 6463 +/- 1307 pg/ml, 10,329 +/- 5571 pg/ml vs 137.5 +/- 85.5 pg/ml, respectively, P < 0.05). The high mortality observed in the pancreatitis group (43%) was decreased by pentoxifylline administration to 11%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  these results demonstrate that pentoxifylline very effectively inhibits cytokine production in acute pancreatitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Albert Szent-Gyorgyi Medical University, Szeged, Hungary.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Marton
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Farkas
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Takacs
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Szasz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Varga
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jarmay
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Balogh
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lonovics
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D019283:Pancreatitis, Acute Necrotizing / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010431:Pentoxifylline / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D010431:Pentoxifylline