Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.32(1) 2022                                                                         Anti-inflammatory effect of tamsulosin                                                                                                                       

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31351/vol32iss1pp283-289                           

283 
 

Study of the Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Tamsulosin in Rat by Evaluating IL-4, 

IL-6 and TNF-α: An airway Model 
Hala H. Abduljabbar *,1 and Manal A. Ibrahim** 

*Department of Pharmacy, Al-Basrah Teaching Hospital, Basrah, Iraq 
**

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Pharmacy, University of Al-Basra, Iraq 
 

Abstract 
Inflammatory airway disease is a known worldwide health problem. Current medications are 

accompanied by serious side effects and it provides only temporary symptom control. Aim: To investigate the 

effect of tamsulosin, on the inflammatory cytokines IL-4, IL-6, and TNF-α, which are associated with airway 

inflammation. 30 male, albino rats, weighing 150-250 gm were allocated into 5 groups, each group with 6 rats; 

Group A: normal control group, rats were given commercial pellets and distilled water for 14 days. Group B: 

negative control group, rats were exposed to airway sensitization only. Group C: positive control group, rats were 

treated with prednisolone (4.12mg/kg/d) orally plus airway sensitization. Group D: rats were treated with 

tamsulosin (35 mcg/kg/d) orally plus airway sensitization. Group E: rats were treated with tamsulosin (17.5 

mcg/kg/d) orally plus airway sensitization. Investigation of inflammatory cytokines IL- 4, IL-6, and TNF-α in 

serum samples by enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). There was a significant reduction (P-value<0.05) of 

IL- 4 and TNF-α in serum for tamsulosin treated group (D) and group (E) when compared with the positive 

control group (B) but only group (D) (35mcg/kg/d) tamsulosin showed significant reduction (P-value<0.05) in 

IL-6 level when compared with the positive control group (B). Tamsulosin has an anti-inflammatory effect by 

reduction of IL-4, IL-6, and TNF-α in the rat airway model. 
Key words: Tamsulosin, Airway inflammation, Inflammatory cytokines, IL-4, IL-6, TNF-α. 

 

 دراسة تأثير عالج التامسولوسين كمضاد أللتهابات المجاري التنفسية المستحدثة في الجرذان
 *ابراهيم عبد الخالق   ومنال 1*،هالة هيثم عبد الجبار 

 

 العراق.  البصرة،  التعليمي، مستشفى البصرة  الصيدلة، قسم *
 العراق.  البصرة، جامعة   الصيدلة، كلية  والسموم، فرع االدوية **

 خالصهال
التهاب المجرى الهوائي هو مشكللة حكةية معروفة في جميأ حاةاا العالم. اودوية المتا ة مصكةوبة بر اا جاابية رةيرة وال روفر  كوى 

و لامل   (IL-6), ااترلوكيع  كتة (IL-4) اابعة  ااترلوكيع  السكيتوكياا    التامسكولو كيع للى اولراض. داا كة رث ير لاااالسكيةرة المققتة للى 

مجمولا  ،   5قسكم  للى   مج  250-150 وزاها،  مع الذكوا الرهاب مجرى الهواا. رم ا كتخدام  ث و  جراا  ةالمصكا ب (TNF-α)حلفا-اخر الوام

ا. المجمولكة النكاايكة  رم   14جراا . المجمولكة االولى  مجمولكة السككككيةرة ، حلةيك  الفمرا  المكاا الماةر لمكدة    6ككل مجمولكة رةتوع للى   يومكا

ضككافة للى رةسككر  باإللع طريق الفم  مجم / كجم(   4.12   لبريدايزولو ارعريضككها لتةسككر مجرى الهواا فال. المجمولة النالنة  الةي  لث   

باإلضكككافة للى رةسكككر مجرى الهواا.   لع طريق الفمميلروجرام / كجم(   35مجرى الهواا. المجمولة الرابعة  الةي  لث  التامسكككولو كككيع  

 باإلضكافة للى رةسكر مجرى الهواا. رم قيات رركيز  لع طريق الفمميلروجرام / كجم(   17.5المجمولة الخامسكة  الةي  لث  التامسكولو كيع  

ااترلوكيع اابعة  لك (P-value <0.05) الماايسة االمتصاحية الماالية المرربةة باالازيم. ااخفاض معاوع  ةبوا ة السيتوكياا  في مصل الجراا 

ا معاو الرابعة للع المجمولة للمجمولتيع الرابعة والخامسكة لاد الةاا لث  التامسكولو كيع.    الفا-ومعامل اخر الوام -P) ياافال حظهر  ااخفاضكا

value <0.05) ااترلوكيع اابعة, ااترلوكيع  كتة و  ااترلوكيع  كتة. لث  التامسكولو كيع لأ رث ير مضكاد لثلتهابا  لع طريق راليل في مسكتوى

 .بعد ا تةداث التهاب مجرى الهواا لاد الجراا  حلفا-لامل اخر الوام
 .ألفا-عامل نخر الورم، انترلوكين ستةأربعة، انترلوكين ، سايتوكينات، الهوائيمجرى الالتهاب ، الكلمات المفتاحية: تامسولوسين

Introduction 
Airway inflammatory diseases, such as asthma and 

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are 

well-known worldwide health problems that 

significantly affect the quality of life. The common 

complaints of affected patients include limited 

lifestyle activities as well as the economic burden. 

They usually endure frequent hospital admissions, 

high treatment costs, and even premature death (1). 

The most common and effective therapy for the 

management of acute symptoms and preventing 

exacerbation are corticosteroids (2). Unfortunately, 

even if they are used as a short course, a wide range  

 
 

of side effects accompany this medical formulation. 

On the other hand, long term use will lead to a more 

dangerous impact on human health (3,4). In addition, 

there is an increase in morbidity and mortality 

caused by glucocorticoid resistance in asthmatic 

patients added to the limitation of long-term use of 

this drug class (4,5). To date, there has been no 

clinical treatment capable of eliminating the disease 

or safely controlling it. Therefore, finding an 

effective medical plan by introducing new 

medication should be a priority. 

 
1Corresponding author E-mail: hala.alabdli@gmail.com 
Received: 24/ 6/2022  

Accepted: 3/8 /2022 

Iraqi Journal of Pharmaceutical Science

https://doi.org/10.31351/vol32iss1pp283-289


Iraqi J Pharm Sci, Vol.32(1) 2022                                                                                Anti-inflammatory effect of tamsulosin                                                                                                                                            

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 Tamsulosin is an inhibitor of the α1-adrenergic 

receptor (α1-AR), and the FDA has approved it for 

the management of benign prostatic hypertrophy 

(BPH)(6). Drugs belonging to this class are 

inexpensive, common, and well-tolerated (7-9). 

Nevertheless, tamsulosin adverse events emerged in 

1.1% of treated patients in a previous study 

conducted by Martin et al and the reported adverse 

events included  dizziness, nausea, headache, 

hypotension, dry nose, pruritus, redness of the skin, 

increased dyspepsia, and insomnia (10). In an animal 

model of hyper-inflammation on mice, prophylactic 

treatment of cytokine storm is effective via using α1-

AR blocker which is performed by obstructing 

immune responses (11). Furthermore, a retrospective 

study of hospitalized patients admitted for acute 

respiratory distress syndrome using α1-AR 

antagonist had a reduced risk of depending on 

mechanical ventilation and lower mortality rates 

compared to non-users (12). Cytokines have a vital 

role in regulating the body’s immune reaction to 

infection (13). IL-4 is one of the important cytokines 

that drive the allergic inflammatory response. It has 

an important role in initiating the differentiation of 

CD4 T-cells into T-helper2 calls, and stimulating the 

release of a great amount of IgE from B cells. Also, 

in macrophages, IL4 promotes their activation (14,15). 

Another important cytokine is IL-6 which serves as 

a driving force for chronic inflammatory disease of 

the airways (16. Tissue injury and inflammation are 

the main reasons for the formation and release of IL- 

6. It was initially recognized as B cell stimulatory 

factor 2 (BSF-2), leading to the differentiation of B-

cells into antibody-producing plasma cells (13). 

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF- α) participates in 

the inflammatory process by causing hyper 

inflammation in the alveolar cells of the lung (17). It 

is released at the beginning of allergen sensitization 

and continues to stimulate the immune response 

further at the effector stage (18). Furthermore, TNF- 

α acts as a chemoattractant for neutrophils and 

eosinophils and improves their cytotoxicity on 

endothelial cells (19). This research is aimed to 

investigate the impact of tamsulosin on 

inflammatory mediators such as IL- 4, IL- 6 and 

TNF-α that was associated with inflammatory 

airway disease and comparison with prednisolone. 

Materials and method 
Materials 

Drugs and chemicals that are included in 

this current study are: Tamsulosin (Astells 

Pharma, the Netherlands), Prednisolone 

(Wockhardt, UK), ovalbumin (OVA) (Chadwll 

Hеath ESSEX, England), Al(OH)3 (MERCK 

Darmstadt, Germany), Normal Saline 0.9% (N/S) 

(Pioneer, Iraq) and formaldehyde (37-41%) (S.D. 

Fine Chem Limited, India). 

Animals 

Thirty healthy, male, rats  150-250  gm 

were purchased from the College of Veterinary 

Medicine/Basra University. Rats were housed under 

an optimum temperature 21±4 °C, light-dark 

photoperiods (12L:12D) and offered a commercial 

pellet diet with distilled water throughout the 

experiment. 

Experimental design 

Group A: normal control group, rats were given 

commercial pellets and distilled water (D/W) for 14 

days. Group B: negative control group, rats were 

exposed to airway sensitization only. Group C: 

positive (standard drug) control, rats were given 

prednisolone ( 4.12 mg/kg/d) orally with airway 

sensitization (19). Group D: treated control , rats 

were given tamsulosin (35 mcg/kg, equivalent to 

0.4 mg tamsulosin for a 70 kg adult patient) orally 

with airway sensitization (20,21). Group E: treated 

control group, rats were given tamsulosin (17.5 

mcg/kg, equivalent to 0.2 mg tamsulosin for a 70 kg 

adult patient) orally with airway sensitization (21,22). 

Airway inflammation was induced by sensitization 

(inhalation of ovalbumin) using a modified model 

by Zainab et al (2021) (19). From the 1st to 3rd day, 

rats were sensitized by 1mg ovalbumin, 100mg 

Al(OH)₃ dissolved in 1ml N/S. On the 6th day, the 

sensitization dose was increased to 100mg 

ovalbumin, 100mg Al(OH)₃ dissolved in 1ml N/S. 

Challenge started on the 9th day using a glass 

chamber (30cm × 30cm × 30cm), which was 

attached to a nebulizer filled with 1% ovalbumin (1 

gm OVA in 100 ml N/S) for 30 minutes each day; 

the process was repeated for 6 days. Drug doses 

were administered 60 minutes prior to sensitization 

in the treated groups. The rats were killed at the 14th 

day after the first sensitization dose (19). 
 

Statistical analysis 

In this study, data were expressed as mean 

± (SEM). Comparison among multiple groups was 

conducted by analysis of. Variance (ANOVA) while 

significance between two groups was assessed by 

unpaired. student t-test. Concerning this work, P-

values that are less than 0.05  (P-value<0.05) were 

regarded as significant. 
 

Results 
Effect of Tamsulosin on IL-4 in rat serum 

Table 1 and Figure 1 elucidate that IL-4 

levels (mean ± SEM) for rats that were exposed to 

airway sensitization (group B) were significantly 

elevated (P-value<0.05) when compared to the 

normal control (group A). Serum levels of IL-4 for 

group B and group A were 93.49±9.49 and 

50.47±3.93, respectively. 

Furthermore, Table 1 and Figure 1 shows that levels 

of IL-4 for rats treated with 4.12 mg/kg/d 

prednisolone (group C), 35 mcg/kg/d tamsulosin 

(group D) and 17.5 mcg/kg/d tamsulosin (group E) 

were significantly reduced (P-value<0.05) when 

compared to the negative control (group B). IL-4 

levels for groups C, D and E were 42.88±1.87, 

49.03±3.53 and  67.87±5.91, respectively. This data 



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285 
 

indicated a significant reduction (P-value<0.05) in 

IL-4 levels when compared to the negative control 

(group B). Moreover, there was no significant 

difference (P-value>0.05) in IL-4 levels for 

prednisolone treated group (group C) when 

compared with tamsulosin 35mcg/kg/d (group D) as 

illustrated in Figure 1. 
 

Effect of Tamsulosin on IL-6 in rat serum 

As shown in Table 1 and Figure 2, IL-6 

serum level (mean ± SEM) for OVA-sensitized rats 

(group B) was significantly elevated (P-value<0.05) 

when compared with the normal control (group A). 

IL-6 levels in rat serum for group B and group A 

were 82.5±1.76 and 41±2.44, respectively. 

Additionally, there was significant reduction (P-

value<0.05) in IL-6 levels for rat serum after 

treatment with 4.12 mg/kg/d prednisolone (group C) 

(60.5 ± 5.53) and 35 mcg/kg/d tamsulosin (group D) 

(49.16 ± 5.70) in comparison to the negative control 

(82.5±1.76). However, tamsulosin 17.5 mcg/kg/d 

(group E) (75.33 ± 4.1) showed no significant 

difference (P-value>0.05) in comparison to the 

negative control (82.5±1.76), (Table-1). On the 

other hand, as shown in Table 1 and Figure 2, there 

was no significant (P-value>0.05) difference for 

prednisolone treated group (group C) when 

compared with tamsulosin treated group 

35mcg/kg/d (group D), Table 1. 
 

Effect of Tamsulosin on TNF-α in rat serum 

Table 1 and Figure 3 demonstrate that 

levels of TNF-α (mean ± SEM) for rats with induced 

airway sensitization (group B) were significantly 

raised (P-value<0.05) compared to the normal 

control (group A). Serum level of TNF-α in groups 

B and A were 242.23±17.24 and 70.74±4.21, 

respectively. 

In addition, Table 1 and Figure 3 shows that levels 

of TNF-α for rats treated with 4.12 mg/kg/d 

prednisolone (group C), 35 mcg/kg/d tamsulosin 

(group D) and 17.5 mcg/kg/d tamsulosin (group E) 

were 106.76±26.57, 67.56±20.79& 101.76±11.01, 

respectively. These changes showed significant 

reduction (P-value<0.05) in serum TNF-α level 

compared to the negative control group (group B) 

93.49 ± 9.49. 

 

Table 1. Effectiveness of tamsulosin on the serum levels of interlеukin-4 (IL- 4), interlеukin-6 (IL- 6) and 

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in rat after airway inflammation. 

Values were represented. as means ± standard error of means (SEM). *= Significantly different (P-value< 0.05) 

concerning the normal control group. Values with symbol superscript (a) are significantly different (P-value< 

0.05) concerning group B. DW = distilled water; OVA = ovalbumin. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TNF-α (ng/L) 

(means ±SEM) 

IL-6 (pg/mL) 

(means ±SEM) 

IL-4 (ng/L) 

(means ±SEM) 

Type of treatment Treatment 

group 

n=6 

70.74±4.21 41±2.44 50.47±3.93 Normal control/DW Group A 

242.23±17.24* 82.5±1.76* 93.49±9.49* Negative control/ 

OVA-sensitization 

Group B 

106.76±26.57 a 60.5±5.53 a 42.88±1.87 a Positive control/ 

Prednisolone 

(4.12mg/kg/d) 

Group C 

67.56±20.79 a 49.16±5.70 a 49.03±3.53 a Tamsulosin 

(35mcg/kg/d) 

Group D 

101.76±11.01 a 75.33±4.10 67.87±5.91 a Tamsulosin 

(17.5mcg/kg/d) 

Group E 



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Figure 1.effect of tamsulosin on the serum level of IL-

4 in rat. Group A: normal control group, rats given 

distilled water for 14 days; Group B: negative control 

group, rats exposed to airway sensitization only; 

Group C: positive control, treated with prednisolone 

(4.12mg/kg/d) orally plus airway sensitization; Group 

D: treated with tamsulosin (35 mcg/kg/d) orally plus 

airway sensitization; Group E: treated with tamsulosin 

(17.5 mcg/kg/d) orally plus airway sensitization. 
 

 
Figure 2 . Effect of tamsulosin on the serum level 

of IL-6 in rat. Group A: normal control group, 

rats given distilled water for 14 days; Group B: 

negative control group, rats exposed to airway 

sensitization only; Group C: positive control, 

treated with prednisolone (4.12mg/kg/d) orally 

plus airway sensitization; Group D: treated with 

tamsulosin (35 mcg/kg/d) orally plus airway 

sensitization; Group E: treated with tamsulosin 

(17.5 mcg/kg/d) orally plus airway sensitization. 

 
Figure 3. Effect of tamsulosin on the serum level 

of TNF-α in rat. Group A: normal control group, 

rats given distilled water for 14 days; Group B: 

negative control group, rats exposed to airway 

sensitization only; Group C: positive control, 

treated with prednisolone (4.12mg/kg/d) orally 

plus airway sensitization; Group D: treated with 

tamsulosin (35 mcg/kg/d) orally plus airway 

sensitization; Group E: treated with tamsulosin 

(17.5 mcg/kg/d) orally plus airway sensitization. 

Discussion 
Sustained inflammation of the respiratory 

tract arises from the pathogenesis of many chronic 

pulmonary conditions, including COPD and asthma 
(23). These diseases come with a high case fatality 

ratio owing to the variable response rates to 

treatment choices (5). Corticosteroids are the 

cornerstone of treating inflammation according to 

their major roles as anti-inflammatory and 

immunosuppressant. These agents also come with a 

long profile of dangerous side effects, especially 

with a long-term administration (24). Prednisolone is 

a corticosteroid that is traditionally used as anti-

inflammatory drug (25). We utilized prednisolone in 

this research to compare pharmacological action 

with tamsulosin. Inflammatory cytokines have a 

leading role in orchestrating respiratory injury in 

asthma and COPD, making these mediators very 

attractive targets in treatment (26). The current study 

was conducted to evaluate the impact of tamsulosin 

on selected inflammatory cytokines. The tamsulosin 

effect was then studied via using the OVA-

sensitized rat model. 

Tamsulosin is commonly prescribed to men as first-

line agent for treating benign prostatic hypertrophy 

(BPH) by approximately 80% of physicians. It 

belongs to the α1-AR inhibitor pharmacological 

class (6). Other members of this class have been 

found to protect against cytokine storm and hyper-

inflammation by a previous study (27). Prescribing 

tamsulosin is very common in men, and we aim to 

investigate other effects this drug may own.  

In the current study, the prolong ovalbumin-

sensitization in rats of the negative control (group 

B) caused airway inflammatory signs in comparison 

with the normal control (group A). This result is 

consistent with findings from previous studies (28-30). 

First, we evaluated IL-4, an inflammatory 

mediator, which was significantly elevated (P-

value <0.05) in rats with OVA-sensitization (group 

B) when compared with the normal control ( group 

A), as shown in Table 1 and Figure 1. These results. 

were in agreement with both Bagnasco et  al (2016) 
(31) and Zainab et al (2021) (19), studies which 

showed that IL-4 level was considerably high when 

the rats were exposed to repeated OVA-challenge in 

comparison to the placebo group (19,31). 

According to Table 1, a reverse airway 

inflammation reflected by significant (P-value 

<0.05) cytokines level reduction is caused by 

prednisolone treatment (group C) compared to the 

negative control (group B), which was also 

demonstrated by a previous study (28). In this study, 

both doses of tamsulosin 35mcg/kg/d (group D) and 

17.5 mcg/kg/d (group E) had shown the ability to 

significantly (P-value <0.05) reduce levels of IL-4. 

Moreover, there was no significant difference (P-

value >0.05) when comparing treated group of 

tamsulosin 35 mcg/kg/d (group D) to prednisolone 

4.12 mg/kg/d (group C) as seen in Table 1 and 



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Figure 1. Demonstrating that tamsulosin at dose 35 

mcg/kg/d had equivalent activity to prednisolone 

4.12mg/kg/d regarding the reduction of IL-4 in 

airway model. 

In addition to IL-4, another prο-

inflammatory mediator IL-6 was analyzed, which 

was produced after OVA sensitization in a rat 

airway model. Evidence showed that IL-6 has a 

correlation with the pathogenesis of asthma and is 

associated with the negative outcome after 

treatment (32). In the current study, IL-6 

concentration in serum was significantly reduced 

(P-value<0.05) by prednisolone treatment when 

compared to the negative control (group B), which 

was also observed by a previous study (33). IL-6 level 

in serum was significantly downregulated (P-

value<0.05) in rats treated with tamsulosin 

(35mcg/kg/d) when compared with OVA-

challenged rats (group B). This result is in line with 

another study conducted by Grzegorz et al (34). On 

the contrary, tamsulosin in dose 17.5 mcg/kg/d 

(group E) showed no statistical difference (P-

value>0.05) in IL-6 level compared to the negative 

control group, Figure 2, suggesting this dose may be 

too low to produce a major reduction in IL-6 

cytokine. Interestingly, tamsulosin 35mcg/kg/d 

(group D) was found to have an approximate effect 

to prednisolone (group C) in reducing IL-6 level, as 

there was no significant difference (P-value>0.05) 

between the two groups, Table 1. 

This anti-inflammatory effect of tamsulosin could 

be attributed to different mechanisms. In his study, 

Alain et al investigated 26 genes of inflammation 

markers at mRNA level which resulted in an 

observed downregulation of mean mRNA 

expression by 12/26 (46.2%) in the tamsulosin 

treated group (20). Additionally, Lin et al 

demonstrated. the effect of tamsulosin in blocking 

the activation of NF-κB, leading to diminishing 

production of inflammatory cytokines (35). This 

finding indicated that tamsulosin may have an 

equivalent mechanism to glucocorticoids in 

controlling inflammation at the molecular level. 

Prednisolone also acts by repressing the gene 

transcription by interference with the NF-κB family 

of nuclear transcription factors to diminish the 

triggering of several pro-inflammatory cytokines 
(36,37). Moreover, another mechanism is proposed in 

an animal study which revealed that by blocking α1 

AR pathway, catecholamine ability to augment 

cytokines production is lost, thus improving the 

capability to survive inflammatory injury in mice 
(27).  

The other dominant inflammatory 

parameter in lung injury is TNF-α (38). In the current 

study, the level of TNF-α in rat serum of the 

negative control (group B) was increased 

significantly (P-value <0.05) compared to the 

normal control (group A) as shown in Table 1. 

Kumar. et al ( 2017) research reported that the TNF-

α level is elevated in rats with induced airway 

sensitization compared to the negative control, 

which agrees with our study (39). Treatment with 

prednisolone 4.12mg/kg/d (group C) showed a 

significant reduction (P-value <0.05) in TNF-α 

level, compared to the normal control (group A), as 

seen in Table 1 and Figure 3. This result agrees with 

other studies that corticosteroids are effective 

agents which are administered for controlling the 

release of prο-inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-

α and IL-6 (17). 

In addition,  TNF-α was significantly 

reduced (P-value <0.05) by treatment with 

tamsulosin 35mcg/kg/d (group D) and this result is 

in agreement with earlier research by William et al 

(2018) (6). This result can be explained by the effect 

of tamsulosin in blocking the activation of NF-κB, 

therefore reducing the synthesis of inflammatory 

cytokines (35). Additionally, another possible 

mechanism could be described by a previous animal 

study in which norepinephrine (NE) was found to 

control the phosphorylation of mitogen-activated 

protein kinases (MAPK) through AR pathway, 

which in turn regulated the macrophage production 

of TNF-α. Therefore, after using an α-AR 

antagonist, NE role in TNF-α production was 

blocked 40. In another research, Sumera et al 

detected a downregulation in the levels of mRNA 

expression of TNF-α after the administration of α1-

AR antagonist in rats, suggesting an 

immunomodulatory potential for α1-AR blockers 
(41). In the current study, it is interesting to note the 

presence of a superior reduction of TNF-α in the 

tamsulosin (35 mcg/kg/d) treated group over the 

prednisolone 4.12mg/kg/d treated group as shown 

in Table 1 and Figure 3. 

This present study has demonstrated that 

tamsulosin (17.5 - 35 mcg/kg/d) reduce and/or 

prevents certain inflammatory cytokines release in 

ovalbumin-challenged rats. In this animal model, 

the anti-inflammatory action of tamsulosin was 

detected for the first time; nevertheless, previously 

reported similar anti-inflammatory response was in 

other α1 AR antagonist drug-class members (27). As 

a final result, according to Table 1, the tamsulosin 

dose (35mcg/kg/d) had a more pronounced and 

reliable effect in reducing inflammatory cytokines 

(IL-4, IL-6 and TNF-α) than the lower dose 

(17.5mcg/kg/d). 
 

Conclusion 
The current research showed that 

tamsulosin, an α1 AR blocker had an anti-

inflammatory effect in airway model that included 

a reduction in serum concentration of major prο-

inflammatory cytokines (IL-4, IL-6 and TNF-α). In 

the future, more studies with tamsulosin can be 

conducted for prevention and treatment of other 

inflammatory lung diseases. 

 



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Acknowledgment 
This study was abstracted from the 

master’s study that was submitted. at the 

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 

College of Pharmacy, Al-Basrah University. The 

authors offer their greatest thanks to the 

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 

College of Pharmacy, Al-Basrah University. 

Conflict of Interest 
The authors of this work had declared no 

conflict of interest. 

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