Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects and mechanism of pentoxifylline on nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Methods Thirty SD rats were divided into 3 groups randomly: model group (n=10), treatment group(n=10), and normal control group(n=10). The rats of model group and treatment group were given fat-rich feed, and those of normal control group were given normal feed. Furthermore, the rats of treatment group were given pentoxifylline after 12 weeks of fat-rich diet feeding. At 16 weeks, the rats of treatment group, normal control group and model group were sacrificed. Livers were reserved to measure the procollagen Ⅰ, procollagen Ⅲ, TGF-β1 and TNF-α mRNA expression by real-time PCR. Results The model group's procollagenⅠmRNA expression level was higher than that of the normal control group(P＜0.05), that of the treatment group was lower than that of the model group(P＜0.05). Model group's procollagen Ⅲ mRNA expression level was higher than that of the normal control group(P＜0.05), that of the treatment group was lower than that of the model group, but the differences were no statistically significant. The model group's TGF-β1 mRNA expression level was higher than that of normal control group(P＜0.05), that of treatment group was lower than that of model group(P＜0.05). Model group's TNF-α mRNA expression level was higher than that of normal control group(P＜0.05), and that of treatment group was lower than that of model group(P＜0.05). Conclusion Pentoxifylline can decrease the collagen Ⅰand collagen Ⅲ mRNA expression of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, inhibit TGF-β1 and TNF-α expression. Pentoxifylline may have certain anti-fibrotic effects.

Key words: nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, pentoxifylline, TGF-β1, TNF-α