Cardiac release of urocortin precedes the occurrence of irreversible myocardial damage in the rat heart exposed to ischemia/reperfusion injury.
This study evaluates whether cardiac ischemia induces release of urocortin, before and independently from myocyte cell death. Urocortin levels rose after 5-min ischemia and peaked after 10-min ischemia, when cell death was not detected. However, myocyte apoptosis and/or necrosis occurred following 20- and 30-min ischemia, which paralleled a fall in urocortin levels, suggesting that urocortin expression and release are mainly sustained by metabolically challenged, though still viable myocytes. Hence, since cardiac release of urocortin, unlike that of conventional biomarkers, occurs before and apart from cell death, urocortin levels may be clinically useful in the diagnosis of sublethal myocardial ischemia.
Knight
Richard A
RA
Medical Molecular Biology Unit, Institute of Child Health, University College London, 30 Guilford Street, London WC1N 1EH, United Kingdom. r.knight@ich.ucl.ac.uk <r.knight@ich.ucl.ac.uk>
Chen-Scarabelli
Carol
C
Yuan
Zhaokan
Z
McCauley
Roy B
RB
Di Rezze
J
J
Scarabelli
Gabriele M
GM
Townsend
Paul A
PA
Latchman
David
D
Saravolatz
Louis
L
Faggian
Giuseppe
G
Mazzucco
Alessandro
A
Chowdrey
Hardial S
HS
Stephanou
Anastasis
A
Scarabelli
Tiziano M
TM
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D015428:Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D009336:Necrosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D054832:Urocortins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism*
D015415:Biomarkers; D054832:Urocortins