Pentoxifylline decreases body weight loss and muscle protein wasting characteristics of sepsis.

Sepsis induces metabolic disorders that include loss of body weight, muscle wasting, and acute-phase protein synthesis in liver. Cytokines are generally recognized as active mediators of these disorders, and the implication of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) has been frequently discussed in the recent past. However, the identity of the active agent in alterations of protein metabolism is still controversial. To improve our understanding of the role of cytokines in mediating muscle wasting observed in sepsis, we investigated muscle and liver protein metabolism in the following three groups of rats: infected control rats (INF-C); infected rats pretreated with pentoxifylline (PTX-INF), which is a potent inhibitor of TNF secretion; and pair-fed rats for the PTX-INF group pretreated with pentoxifylline. Pentoxifylline nearly completely suppressed TNF secretion but did not influence the transient fall in rectal temperature, the decreased hematocrit, and the increased liver protein mass and synthesis observed in INF-C rats. Pentoxifylline decreased the anorexia, the loss of body weight and muscle protein observed in INF-C animals, and partially prevented the decrease in muscle protein synthesis induced by infection. The overall data indicate that pentoxifylline is an effective agent in mitigating the characteristic muscle protein wasting induced by sepsis and confirm the limited role of TNF in the mediation of the acute-phase protein synthesis. Our results suggest a probable implication of TNF in the regulation of protein balance in muscle but do not allow discarding possible implication of other mediators that would be inhibited by pentoxifylline.