Abstract. Previous studies have reported that pentoxifylline, a phosphodiesterase inhibitor, attenuates experimental mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis. This study hypothesized that pentoxifylline could also attenuate the renal disease progression in rats with remnant kidney. After 5/6 subtotal nephrectomy, rats developed progressively elevated proteinuria and plasma creatinine, glomerulosclerosis, interstitial inflammation, and fibrosis, all of which were attenuated by 40 to 60% by pentoxifylline. However, the elevated BP was not changed by pentoxifylline. Pentoxifylline reduced the upregulation of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 gene by 60% in the cortex of remnant kidney, as well as in a dose-dependent manner in the albumin-or angiotensin II-stimulated proximal tubular cells. It also reduced the upregulation of mitogenic and profibrogenic genes by 50%, including platelet-derived growth factor, fibroblast growth factor-2, transforming growth factor- 1 , connective tissue growth factor, and types I and III collagen in the cortex of remnant kidney. Furthermore, pentoxifylline was found to decrease the numbers of interstitial myofibroblasts by 60% in the cortex of remnant kidney and suppress the proliferation of cultured interstitial fibroblasts. It also reduced the angiotensin II-induced or transforming growth factor- 1
The administration of PTX to rats with anti-Thy1 disease reduces accumulation and proliferation of glomerular macrophages, attenuates proteinuria, suppresses activation and proliferation of MCs, and ameliorates glomerular sclerosis. These results suggest that PTX may have a suppressive effect in acute phases or relapses of mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis.
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