Effect of olprinone, a phosphodiesterase III inhibitor, on hepatic ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats.

I/R injury is the main cause for hepatic dysfunction and failure after liver transplantation and liver resection. Therefore, reduction of I/R injury is the most important goal to improve the outcome of these procedures. Olprinone is a newly developed selective phosphodiesterase III inhibitor, which has been reported to ameliorate renal I/R injury in rats. However, no clear evidence for the actions of olprinone on inflammatory response after hepatic I/R injury has been disclosed thus far. Our study was designed to evaluate the action of olprinone on the hepatic I/R injury in rats. Olprinone increased the cyclic adenosine monophosphate level in injured liver tissue and ameliorated the liver injury after hepatic I/R. Moreover, olprinone suppressed the activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and nuclear factor-kappaB, cytokine production (TNF-alpha, IL-6, and cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant factor 1), and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 expression in liver after hepatic I/R. These observations suggest that olprinone protects liver against I/R injury via the elevation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate level and suppression of intercellular adhesion molecule 1 expression and cytokine production (TNF-alpha, IL-6, and cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant factor 1), possibly by interfering with the signaling pathways of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and nuclear factor-kappaB in rats.