Abstract: 　Objective To study the effect of pentoxifylline (PTX) on the content of hepatic TGF-β1, type Ⅰ and type Ⅲ collagen in schistosome-infected mice with liver fibrosis. . Methods. Forty mice with schistosomiasis were divided into four groups: one group as control without any treatment, other three were treated with praziquantel 500 mg/(kg·d) for 2 d, high dose PTX 360 mg/(kg·d) for 8 wk, and low dose PTX 180 mg/(kg·d) for 8 wk respectively. Immunohistochemical technique and multimedia color pathographic analysis system were applied to observe the content of hepatic TGF-β1, type Ⅰ and type Ⅲ collagen in mice infected with S.japonicum before and after treatment. . Results . The effect of PTX on the content of hepatic TGF-β1, type Ⅰ and type Ⅲ collagen in mice was related to the dosage of PTX. High dose PTX treatment significantly reduced the content of TGF-β1, type Ⅰ and type Ⅲ collagen compared to the control (P<0.01), whereas no difference was found between the group of low dose PTX treatment and control (P>0.05). . Conclusion . High dose PTX treatment could reduce the content of hepatic TGF-β1, type Ⅰ and type Ⅲ collagen significantly in schistosome-infected mice with liver fibrosis.

Key words: pentoxifylline (PTX), liver fibrosis, Schistosoma japonicum, TGF-β1, collagen