miR-26a-5p protects against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury by regulating the PTEN/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

Reperfusion strategies in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) can cause a series of additional clinical damage, defined as myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury, and thus there is a need for effective therapeutic methods to attenuate I/R injury. miR-26a-5p has been proven to be an essential regulator for biological processes in different cell types. Nevertheless, the role of miR-26a-5p in myocardial I/R injury has not yet been reported. We established an I/R injury model in vitro and in vivo. In vitro, we used cardiomyocytes to simulate I/R injury using hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) assay. In vivo, we used C57BL/6 mice to construct I/R injury model. The infarct area was examined by TTC staining. The level of miR-26a-5p and PTEN was determined by bioinformatics methods, qRT-PCR, and western blot. In addition, the viability and apoptosis of cardiomyocytes were separately detected by MTT and flow cytometry. The targeting relationship between miR-26a-5p and PTEN was analyzed by the TargetScan website and luciferase reporter assay. I/R and H/R treatment induced myocardial tissue injury and cardiomyocyte apoptosis, respectively. The results showed that miR-26a-5p was down-regulated in myocardial I/R injury. PTEN was found to be a direct target of miR-26a-5p. Furthermore, miR-26a-5p effectively improved viability and inhibited apoptosis in cardiomyocytes upon I/R injury by inhibiting PTEN expression to activate the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. miR-26a-5p could protect cardiomyocytes against I/R injury by regulating the PTEN/PI3K/AKT pathway, which offers a potential approach for myocardial I/R injury treatment.

Methylation of adrenergic 1 receptor is a potential epigenetic mechanism controlling antihypertensive response to metoprolol.

Although metoprolol is used to treat hypertension, clinical responses are variable and unpredictable. Evidence suggests that adrenergic 1 receptor (ADRB1, designated Adrb1 in rodents) gene polymorphisms influence the level of blood pressure response to this drug therapy, but their presence can not predict the response of the individual patient. The question exists whether epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation could cause changes in the gene’s expression that are a determining factor in metoprolol’s efficacy. The aim of this study was to verify whether DNA methylation could change the expression of the ADRB1 gene, and epigenetic modification could explain why individuals with identical ADRB1 gene polymorphisms have different antihypertensive responses to metoprolol. H9c2 rat myocardial cells in vitro were randomly divided into 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (decitabine)-treated (0.5 to 10.0 μM) and control groups. For the in vivo experiments, 45 spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) were divided into metoprolol-treated and control groups, and after a 4-week intervention myocardia were harvested. Genomic methylation-sensitive PCR was used to assess the methylation status of the Adrb1 promoter after DNA extraction from H9c2 cells and SHR myocardia. Real-time fluorescent quantitative RT-PCR was used to determine levels of Adrb1 mRNA. In H9c2 cells, the least degree of methylation was observed in the 5.0 μM decitabine treated group. Prolonged exposure of cells to 5.0 μM decitabine resulted in downregulating methylation of the Adrb1 promoter. Increased levels of Adrb1 mRNA of the 5.0 μM group demonstrated that this concentration resulted in the highest expression. Accordingly, DNA methylation resulted in the downregulation of Adrb1 transcription. In vivo, the lower level of methylation of the Adrb1 promoter from SHR myocardial samples demonstrated a better antihypertensive effect by metoprolol. The expression of Adrb1 mRNA in the effective group of SHRs was significantly upregulated. In conclusion, as shown in both H9c2 cells and SHRs, downregulated methylation of the Adrb1 promoter is likely to improve the antihypertensive efficacy of metoprolol.