Low-dose cyclosporin A and Tripterygium wilfordii inhibited porcine intestinal allograft rejection.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether Tripterygium wilfordii (TW) could be used as an immunosuppressant, and whether antirejection therapy with low-dose cyclosporin A (CsA) and TW was better than the treatment with large-dose CsA alone in intestinal transplantation in pigs. 100 cm intestines were transplanted by using two-step models. Four pigs which received large-dose CsA for 100 days and then were given TW survived 251.5 +/- 181.5 days; 2 of these died of pneumonia 92 and 97 days after the operations respectively. Five pigs which received low-dose CsA and TW for 100 days, then TW was the only drug used in the survival animals, survived 243.2 +/- 90.9 days; none of these succumbed to infection. All the grafts in those which were administered with low-dose CsA were destroyed by acute rejection at 12.4 +/- 2.6 days. These results indicated that TW had some immunosuppressive effects, and antirejection treatment with low-dose CsA and TW could be considered as an acceptable therapy in small bowel transplantation.