Effect of Pentoxifylline on Staurosporine-Induced Neurite Elongation in PC12 Cells

OBJECTIVE: Pentoxifylline enhances neurite elongation in PC12 cells. This study investigated the effects of pentoxifylline on staurosporine-induced neurite elongation in PC12 cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: There were five treatment groups, including treatment group I (1 nM), treatment group II (10 nM), treatment group III (100 nM), treatment group IV (1uM), and treatment group V (10 mM of pentoxifylline), together with 214 nM staurosporine for a range of time (6, 12 and 24 hours). Cells only treated with staurosporine at a concentration of 214 nM were used as the control group. Cell proliferation, cell death, immunocytochemistry assay, and Total Neurite Length were assessed. RESULTS: The results showed that pentoxifylline increased cell viability (p<0.05) in a dose- and time-dependent manner, and cell death assay showed that cell death decreased in a dose- and time-dependent manner (p<0.05). TNL increased significantly compared with control cells (p<0.05). Immunocytochemistry assay showed that pentoxifylline at low and high concentrations enhanced β-tubulin III and GFAP protein expression compared with control cells. CONCLUSION: It can be concluded that pentoxifylline has positive effects on the staurosporine-induced neurite outgrowth process in PC12 cells.