Role of pentoxifylline and anti-transforming growth factor-B in controlling hepatic fibrosis in murine Schistosomiasis

ABSTRACT

On the basis of fibroblast and myofibroblast-like cells, the inhibitory effect of pentoxifylline [PTX] and anti-transforming growth factor-beta [anti-TGF-beta] and their role in controlling hepatic fibrosis were investigated. Sixty albino mice were infected with schistosomiasis by subcutaneous [s.c.] injection of 60 cercariae/mouse. They were divided into two groups The first group [30 mice] was sacrificed at seventh week and the other [30 mice] at fifteenth week after infection. Groups of infected mice were treated with PTX or anti-TGF-beta for three weeks before sacrifice at the acute [7 weeks] and chronic [15 weeks] phases of infection. Three weeks before sacrifice, ten mice from each group were treated by PTX. In parallel, another ten mice from each group received s.c. Injection with anti-TGF-beta three weeks before sacrifice. The remaining ten mice of each group served as controls. Human fibroblasts were incubated with supernatants derived from splenic or hepatic cell cultures and the cell proliferation was measured by the XTT assay