Effect of Pentoxifylline in the Experimental Acute Focal Cerebral Ischemia

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this experimental study is to determine the protective effect of pentoxifylline against the acute focal cerebral ischemia. The acute focal cerebral ischemia was induced by postorbital occlusion of the proximal portion of the left middle cerebral artery for 4 hours with reperfusion for 8 hours. The experimental animals were divided into two groups:group I(ischemic group) was the cats without pretreatment and group II(pentoxi group) was given pentoxifylline(15 mg/kg) intravenously 2 hours prior to occlusion of the artery. The total areas of infarction in left cerebral hemisphere were measured by image analysis system. In group I and II the total infracted areas were 4034.274 mm2 and 1385.536 mm2, respectively. The significant reduction of infracted areas in group II suggests that the pretreatment of petoxifylline has a beneficial effect on the acute focal cerebral ischemia in cats and would be applicable in the clinical field in which the ischemia is anticipated during major cerebral artery occlusion.