Effect of Pentoxifylline on Apoptosis of Kidney’s Cells Following Acute Methamphetamine Administration in Male Wistar Rats

Background: Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a hallucinogenic drug of abuse which is the most popular drugs in the world and has been shown to induce apoptosis in kidney cells. As Pentoxifylline (PTX) increases cAMP and reduces tumor necrosis factor-α, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of PTX on kidney damage induced by acute administration of MDMA in the male rat. Materials and Methods: Thirty adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups: control group (without any intervention), MDMA as sham group (the group received 7.5 mg/kg MDMA three times at every two hours for one day), E1 ( received 100 mg/kg PTX a week before MDMA administration), E2 ( received 100 mg/kg PTX Just in the time of the third injection of MDMA ) and E3 ( received 100 mg/kg PTX followed by one dose of MDMA) groups. At the end of experiment period, kidneys were removed and prepared for H&E staining, TUNEL and western blot techniques. Results: Histopathological studies showed significantly decrease in the kidney cells damage, in the E1 group compared to MDMA group. The number of TUNEL-positive cells was increased significantly in MDMA group. A significant difference was revealed in the mean number of TUNEL-positive cells between the rats treated with PTX before MDMA administration and MDMA group. Expression of active caspase-3 was significantly increased in the MDMA group. While PTX treatment when administrated before MDMA injections could significantly decrease the caspase-3 activity. Conclusion: The PTX can substantially reduce the severity of lesions in the kidney following administration of MDMA.