The possible protective effect of trimetazidine on imiquimod-induced psoriasis like skin inflammation in an animal model

Abstract

The main objective of our study was to investigate the effects of topical ap- plication of trimetazidine on imiquimod induce psoriasis-like skin lesion. 18 mice had the back shaved for topical application and were grouped as follow. In the control group, mice were daily treated with vaseline base only for six days. The induction group included the mice daily treated with 62.5 mg of commercially available 5% IMQ cream (Aldara, MEDA) for 7 days. Trimetazidine group were daily treated with both 62.5 mg of commercially available 5% IMQ cream (Aldara, MEDA) and 2.5% trimetazidine cream for 7 days. Based on the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI), visual inspection of scaling and erythema were independently scored on a scale from 0 to 4 (0, none; 1, slight; 2, moderate; 3, marked; 4, very marked). Hematoxyline-Eosin was used for the histopathological study. In addition, IL-8 was compared across groups by an Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) test. There was a significant reduction of both epidermal thickness, scaling and erythema in the trimetazidine treated group compared to imiquimod treated group (p <0.05). IL-8, as a marker of inflammation, was decline significantly in trimetazidine treated group compared to the imiquimod group (p <0.05). The histopathological study showed trimetazidine treated group has a marked regression of the proliferation and thickness of the epidermal cell that has been induced by imiquimod.