scholarly journals Simvastatin alleviates myocardial contractile dysfunction and lethal ischemic injury in rat heart independent of cholesterol-lowering effects

2009 ◽  
pp. 449-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Adameová ◽  
A Harčárová ◽  
J Matejíková ◽  
D Pancza ◽  
M Kuželová ◽  
...  

Statins, the inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, are most frequently used drugs in the prevention of coronary artery disease due to their cholesterollowering activity. However, it is not exactly known whether these effects of statins or those independent of cholesterol decrease account for the protection against myocardial ischemiareperfusion (I/R) injury. In this study, we investigated the effect of 5-day treatment with simvastatin (10 mg/kg) in Langendorffperfused hearts of healthy control (C) and diabetichypercholesterolemic (D-H; streptozotocin + high fat-cholesterol diet, 5 days) rats subjected to 30-min global ischemia followed by 40-min reperfusion for the examination of postischemic contractile dysfunction and reperfusion-induced ventricular arrhythmias or to 30-min (left anterior descending) coronary artery occlusion and 2-h reperfusion for the infarct size determination (IS; tetrazolium staining). Postischemic recovery of left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) in animals with D-H was improved by simvastatin therapy (62.7±18.2 % of preischemic values vs. 30.3±5.7 % in the untreated D-H; P<0.05), similar to the values in the simvastatin-treated C group, which were 2.5-fold higher than those in the untreated C group. No ventricular fibrillation occurred in the simvastatin-treated C and D-H animals during reperfusion. Likewise, simvastatin shortened the duration of ventricular tachycardia (10.2±8.1 s and 57.8±29.3 s in C and D-H vs. 143.6±28.6 s and 159.3±44.3 s in untreated C and D-H, respectively, both P<0.05). The decreased arrhythmogenesis in the simvastatin-treated groups correlated with the limitation of IS (in % of risk area) by 66 % and 62 % in C and D-H groups, respectively. However, simvastatin treatment decreased plasma cholesterol levels neither in the D-H animals nor in C. The results indicate that other effects of statins (independent of cholesterol lowering) are involved in the improvement of contractile recovery and attenuation of lethal I/R injury in both, healthy and diseased individuals.

1995 ◽  
Vol 269 (1) ◽  
pp. H271-H281 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Duncker ◽  
J. Zhang ◽  
T. J. Pavek ◽  
M. J. Crampton ◽  
R. J. Bache

Left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (LVH) secondary to chronic pressure overload is associated with increased susceptibility to myocardial hypoperfusion and ischemia during exercise. The present study was performed to determine whether exercise causes alterations in minimum coronary resistance or effective back pressure [coronary pressure at zero flow (Pzf)] that limit maximum myocardial perfusion in the hypertrophied heart. Ascending aortic banding in 7 dogs increased the LV weight-to-body weight ratio to 7.7 +/- 0.3 g/kg compared with 4.6 +/- 0.2 g/kg in 11 normal dogs (P < 0.01). Maximum coronary vasodilation was produced by intracoronary infusion of adenosine. Under resting conditions, the slope of the pressure-flow relationship (conductance) was significantly lower in the LVH animals than in the normal dogs (7.2 +/- 0.8 vs. 11.9 +/- 0.8 x 10(-2) ml.min-1.g-1.mmHg-1; P < 0.01); the slope correlated with the degree of hypertrophy r = 0.74; P < 0.001). The Pzf measured during total coronary artery occlusion (Pzf,measured) was significantly elevated in LVH compared with normal dogs (25.6 +/- 2.2 vs. 13.0 +/- 1.2 mmHg; P < 0.01); Pzf,measured was positively correlated (r = 0.78, P < 0.0005) with LV end-diastolic pressure measured during total coronary artery occlusion (9.0 +/- 1.1 mmHg in normal dogs and 22.2 +/- 3.2 mmHg in LVH dogs; P < 0.01). Graded treadmill exercise to maximum heart rates of 210 +/- 9 and 201 +/- 8 beats/min in normal and LVH animals, respectively, caused similar decreases in the slope of the pressure-flow relationship in LVH (from 7.7 +/- 0.9 to 6.1 +/- 0.8 x 10(-2) ml.min-1.g-1.mmHg-1; P < 0.01) and normal dogs (from 11.9 +/- 0.8 to 10.0 +/- 0.7 x 10(-2) ml.min-1.g-1.mmHg-1; P < 0.01). However, exercise-induced increases in Pzf,measured were significantly greater in the LVH animals (from 25.6 +/- 2.2 to 40.8 +/- 2.1 mmHg; P < 0.01) than in normal animals (from 13.0 +/- 1.2 to 24 +/- 2.1 mmHg; P < 0.01) (P < 0.01 LVH vs. normal). The greater increase in Pzf paralleled a more pronounced increase in LV end-diastolic pressure in the LVH dogs from 22.2 +/- 3.2 to 39.1 +/- 2.7 mmHg) than in normal dogs from 9.0 +/- 1.1 to 14.2 +/- 2.0 mmHg). The results suggest that exaggerated increases in filling pressure during exercise in the hypertrophied left ventricles contributed to impairment of myocardial perfusion during exercise by augmenting the back pressure, which opposes coronary flow.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


2010 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-261
Author(s):  
Fernanda D Olea ◽  
Andrea De Lorenzi ◽  
Claudia Cortés ◽  
Patricia Cabeza Meckert ◽  
Oscar Cendoya ◽  
...  

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