Interaction between castanospermine an immunosuppressant and cyclosporin A in rat cardiac transplantation

Figure 1 Cardiac graft survivals in rats treated with a range of doses of castanospermine only, a range of doses of cyclosporin A only or a combination of both. The doses of CAST and CsA are given in mg/kg per day. When the two drugs are used together the survival is greater than the sum of the two drugs alone (P < 0.001 when dose of CsA and dose of CAST are treated as continuous variables): Compare CsA 2 mg/kg alone plus CAST 100 mg/kg alone with the combination of CsA 2 mg/kg and CAST 100 mg/kg. CAST: Castanospermine; CsA: Cyclosporin A.

Figure 2 Mean number of lymphocytes for increasing doses of cyclosporin A by dose of castanospermine. The doses of CAST and CsA are given in umol/L. There is a reduction in lymphocyte count for increasing doses of CsA or increasing doses of CAST. The absolute reduction in lymphocytes for a given dose of CsA decreases with decreasing doses of CAST. CAST: Castanospermine; CsA: Cyclosporin A.

Figure 3 Natural logarithm of the mean number of lymphocytes for increasing doses of cyclosporin A by dose of castanospermine. The doses of CAST and CsA are given in umol/l. There is a dose dependent reduction in the logarithm of the lymphocyte count for CsA alone (P < 0.001) or for CAST alone (P < 0.001). But when the reduction is analysed there is not a synergistic interaction (P = 0.89). CAST: Castanospermine; CsA: Cyclosporin A.