Hepatic ischemia reperfusion inju­ry (IRI) is a common pathological pro­cess of traumatic surgical disease in the liver, liver transplantation, shock and infection. Inflammatory mediators are implicated in the pathogenesis of IRI. Pentoxifylline (PTX) is a deriva­tive of methylxanthines, acts as a phosphodiesterase inhibitor and thereby elevates the levels of cAMP. Interest in PTX has been recently rea­wakened because of its reported sup-pressive action on immune functions, particularly on cytokine production. It has been shown to be beneficial in or­gan transplantation. Pentoxifylline probably acts primarily by inhibiting tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a). We hypothesized that PTX treatment would attenuate hypoxic ischemic liv­er injury.
Thirty-six male albino rats were used throughout this experiment. Ani­mals were divided into 2 main groups; each comprised 18 rats (sham-operated & IRI groups). Group (1): sham-operated (exposed to anesthe­sia & laparotomy), this group is subdi­vided into 3 equal subgroups. Sub­group 1A: Sham- operated received daily intra-gastric saline, subgroup IB: sham-operated +PTX (8mg/kg/day) for 6 successive weeks before expo­sure to anesthesias laparotomy, sub­group 1C: as IB but received PTX (16mg/kg/day). Group (II): IRI group, divided into 3 equal subgroups, sub­group IIA,received intra-gastric saline for 6 weeks before the induction of IRI .subgroup MB, received 8mg/kg/ day PTX intra-gastrically for 6 weeks before induction of IRI, subgroup IIC,