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Protective role of pentoxifylline and propentofylline against the increase in osmotic fragility of the human red cell induced by protoporphyrin photosensitization
Author(s) -
Cassoly Robert,
Deprette Christiane
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
drug development research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1098-2299
pISSN - 0272-4391
DOI - 10.1002/ddr.430210106
Subject(s) - pentoxifylline , erythrocyte fragility , chemistry , hemolysis , pharmacology , protoporphyrin , red blood cell , in vivo , biochemistry , red cell , xanthine , biophysics , medicine , immunology , biology , enzyme , porphyrin , microbiology and biotechnology
Pentoxifylline and propentofylline are potent drugs used in impaired blood‐flow pathologies. As an approach to understand their mode of action we studied their influence on protoporphyrin‐photosensitized damage of the human red cell membrane. Both compounds are shown to exert a strong protection against the increase in osmotic fragility of the red cell which follows their irradiation at 390 nm in the presence of protoporphyrin. They do not, however, prevent cross‐linking of the membrane skeleton proteins, which occurs slowly following irradiation. The results emphasize the ability of pentoxifylline and propentofylline to scavenge toxic photoactivated radicals, a property which could explain their mode of action in vivo. We also show that the two methyl xanthine derivatives considered in this study significantly protect red cells from hemolysis and spontaneous microvesiculization of their plasma membrane, which normally occurs when whole blood is stored for several weeks.