Simvastatin improves cardiac function in acute phase after myocardial infarction through Akt/eNOS pathway / 中国药理学通报

ABSTRACT

Aim To investigate the effect of simvastatin ( Sim ) on endogenous antioxidant system after acute myocardial infarction ( AMI ) and its potential mecha-nisms. Methods The acute myocardial infarction ( AMI ) rat models were made by ligation left anterior descending of coronary artery. Then the successful models were randomly divided into myocardial infarc-tion group ( MI group) and simvastatin group ( Sim,20 mg·kg-1·d-1), another group without ligation left anterior descending of coronary artery served as sham group(Sham group). The Sim group was administered simvastatin by gavage for 7 days. MI group and Sham group received saline. Hemodynamic parameters, lipid levels, troponinI ( c-TnI ) and lactate dehydrogenase ( LDH) concentrations were examined after 7days, and the levels of superoxide dismutase ( SOD) and glutathi-one peroxidase ( GP) of myocardial antioxidant system were detected by ELISA. The expression of cardiac p-Akt and p-eNOS protein were detected by Western blot. Results Acute myocardial infarction significant-ly lowered cardiac hemodynamic parameters, increased serum c-TnI and LDH levels, lowered levels of SOD and GP, and lowered the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS protein. However, Sim could effectively prevent the deterioration of cardiac function, reduce serum c-TnI and LDH levels, increase levels of SOD and GP, and increase p-Akt and p-eNOS protein expression. Conclusion Early using Sim can effectively improve heart function after acute myocardial infarction, acti-vate myocardial antioxidant system,and reduce myocar-dial necrosis, which may be related to increasing the expression of p-Akt and p-eNOS.