[Remote postconditioning by brief renal ischemia and reperfusion reduces acute myocardial ischemia and reperfusion induced myocardial apoptosis in rabbits].
OBJECTIVE
To observe the effects of renal ischemic postconditioning (RI-Post) on myocardial apoptosis in rabbits with acute myocardial ischemia and reperfusion.


METHODS
All rabbits were subjected to 60 minutes ischemia by left anterior descending coronary artery occlusion (LADO) and 6 hours reperfusion. The rabbits are randomly divided into 3 groups (n = 8 in each group): (1) Ischemia-reperfusion (IR): LADO and reperfusion without additional intervention; (2) RI-Post: after 60 minutes of LADO, the left renal artery was occluded for 30 seconds and reperfused for 30 seconds and repeated 3 times, then the coronary artery was reperfused for 6 hours; (3) Medication intervention (MI): 10 minutes before coronary reperfusion, rabbits were treated with PKC antagonist GF109203X (0.05 mg/kg, IV), followed by RI-Post treatment and 6 hours coronary reperfusion. Myocardial apoptosis was measured by TUNEL and the myocardial Bcl-2 and Bax protein expressions were assessed by immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
Compared with the IR group and the MI group, myocardial apoptosis was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) and the Bcl-2 protein expression increased (P < 0.01) while the Bax protein expression decreased (P < 0.05) in the RI-Post group.


CONCLUSIONS
Remote renal postconditioning applied right before the onset of coronary artery reperfusion can reduce the myocardial apoptosis induced by myocardial ischemia and reperfusion and up-regulate Bcl-2 while down-regulate Bax expression possibly by activation of protein kinase C.
Liu
Song
S
Cardiology Department of Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University-Medical College, Qingdao 266003, China.
Wu
Xiang-feng
XF
Zhang
Wen-zhong
WZ
Sun
Ying-xian
YX
Cai
Shang-lang
SL
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D005260:Female; D007511:Ischemia / Q000378:metabolism; D019194:Ischemic Preconditioning; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D015428:Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / Q000378:metabolism*; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000378:metabolism; D011817:Rabbits; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism
D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein