ubiquinone-9 and Myocardial-Infarction

Statins have been shown to be cardioprotective; however, their interaction with endogenous cardioprotection by ischemic preconditioning and postconditioning is not known. In the present study, we examined if acute and chronic administration of the 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase inhibitor lovastatin affected the infarct size-limiting effect of ischemic preconditioning and postconditioning in rat hearts. Wistar rats were randomly assigned to the following three groups: 1) vehicle (1% methylcellulose per os for 12 days), 2) chronic lovastatin (15 mg.kg(-1).day(-1) per os for 12 days), and 3) acute lovastatin (1% methylcellulose per os for 12 days and 50 micromol/l lovastatin in the perfusate). Hearts isolated from the three groups were either subjected to a nonconditioning (aerobic perfusion followed by 30-min coronary occlusion and 120-min reperfusion, i.e., test ischemia-reperfusion), preconditioning (three intermittent periods of 5-min ischemia-reperfusion cycles before test ischemia-reperfusion), or postconditioning (six cycles of 10-s ischemia-reperfusion after test ischemia) perfusion protocol. Preconditioning and postconditioning significantly decreased infarct size in vehicle-treated hearts. However, preconditioning failed to decrease infarct size in acute lovastatin-treated hearts, but the effect of postconditioning remained unchanged. Chronic lovastatin treatment abolished postconditioning but not preconditioning; however, it decreased infarct size in the nonconditioned group. Myocardial levels of coenzyme Q9 were decreased in both acute and chronic lovastatin-treated rats. Western blot analysis revealed that both acute and chronic lovastatin treatment attenuated the phoshorylation of Akt; however, acute but not chronic lovastatin treatment increased the phosphorylation of p42 MAPK/ERK. We conclude that, although lovastatin may lead to cardioprotection, it interferes with the mechanisms of cardiac adaptation to ischemic stress.

Topics: Animals; Blotting, Western; Disease Models, Animal; Down-Regulation; Drug Administration Schedule; Enzyme Activation; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; Ischemic Preconditioning, Myocardial; Lovastatin; Male; Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase 1; Myocardial Infarction; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury; Myocardium; Phosphorylation; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Ubiquinone

Effects of coenzyme Q9 (25 mg/kg), N6-cyclohexyl adenosine (CHA, 100 micrograms/kg) and their combination were compared in rats with short-term or permanent ligation of the left coronary artery. The following parameters were evaluated in three series of experiments: 1) incidence and duration of ventricular fibrillation and tachycardia during coronary occlusion (10 min) and consecutive reperfusion (5 min); 2) contractility and electrical stability of the heart (ventricular fibrillation threshold) in animals with 2-day myocardial infarction; 3) ischemic myocardial mass after coronary occlusion (5 min) and necrotic tissue mass in 2-day myocardial infarction. The rats were given oral drugs 5 days and 2 hours before the study. All the experiments were performed in open-chest anesthetized (nembutal, 50 mg/kg) rats exposed to ventilation at room air. Both the coenzyme Q9 and CHA significantly reduced the incidence and duration of coronary occlusion and reperfusion arrhythmias, prevented cardiac contractile depression (heart rate.developed pressure) and increased ventricular fibrillation threshold). The effect of coenzyme Q9 was more marked than that of CHA. Coenzyme Q9 substantially reduced necrotic tissue mass while CHA diminished ischemic tissue mass. At the same time the total cardioprotective action of the Q9 + CHA combination was more pronounced than that of them used alone.

Topics: Adenosine; Animals; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; Heart Arrest, Induced; Male; Myocardial Infarction; Myocardial Reperfusion Injury; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Ubiquinone