Oral administration of cilostazol improves survival rate after rat liver ischemia/reperfusion injury

Abstract Background Cilostazol is a type III phosphodiesterase inhibitor used to treat the symptoms of intermittent claudication. Recent studies have shown that cilostazol decreases ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in several organs. Materials and methods We evaluated the effects of cilostazol in a rat model of liver I/R injury. Thirty male Wistar rats with liver I/R injury were divided into a cilostazol or saline (control) group (n = 15 each). Each rat was orally administered cilostazol or saline for 3 days before I/R injury. Liver I/R injury was induced via 1 h of warm ischemia of the median and left lateral liver lobes, followed by 3 h of reperfusion. The rats were then euthanized. Serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels were measured. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare the differences between the treatment groups. Histological examination was performed on the liver tissues. We also conducted a survival study to confirm the effect of cilostazol on the mortality rate in rats. For the survival study, a liver I/R injury model with an ischemia time of 1.5 h was used and the rats were observed for 1 week. Results Serum AST, ALT, IL-1β, and IL-6 levels were significantly lower in the cilostazol group than in the saline group. Treatment with cilostazol significantly improved pathological findings associated with liver I/R injury and increased survival rate compared to that in controls. Conclusions Cilostazol reduced mortality and alleviated the effects of liver I/R injury in Wistar rats.