Rosuvastatin added to standard heart failure therapy improves cardiac remodelling in heart failure rats with preserved ejection fraction.
OBJECTIVE
Although statins may provide potential therapeutic pathways for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), no studies have evaluated statins in combination with standard HF therapy, which would reflect clinical practice more closely. To address this question, we evaluated whether rosuvastatin added to a standard HF therapy provides additional improvement in cardiac structure and function in rats with hypertensive heart failure (SHHF).


RESULTS
Two-month-old SHHF rats were randomly assigned to four groups: (i) non-treated SHHF rats; (ii) rosuvastatin-treated SHHF rats; (iii) SHHF rats treated with quinapril plus torasemide plus carvedilol (considered as standard HF therapy); and (iv) SHHF rats treated with the combination of standard HF therapy and rosuvastatin. The administration of a standard anti-hypertensive HF therapy to SHHF rats for 17 months attenuated left ventricular (LV) chamber dilatation, cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and inflammation compared with non-treated SHHF rats. Rosuvastatin alone prevented LV dilatation and cardiac inflammation similar to standard HF therapy-treated SHHF, despite being unable to normalize blood pressure (BP) or influence cardiac hypertrophy. However, and importantly, the addition of rosuvastatin to the standard HF therapy further prevented LV dilatation, preserved cardiac function, and normalized inflammation.


CONCLUSIONS
These data show that the use of rosuvastatin plus a standard HF therapy results in a significant additional improvement in HF and cardiac remodelling in a rat model of HFpEF. These beneficial effects were independent of BP and plasma lipid changes, and seem to be due, at least in part, to decreased myocardial inflammation.
Gómez-Garre
Dulcenombre
D
Vascular Biology Research Laboratory, Internal Medicine III, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, C/Martín Lagos s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain. mgomezg.hcsc@salud.madrid.org
González-Rubio
Ma Luisa
ML
Muñoz-Pacheco
Paloma
P
Caro-Vadillo
Alicia
A
Aragoncillo
Paloma
P
Fernández-Cruz
Arturo
A
D000818:Animals; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018618:Echocardiography, Doppler, Color; D005464:Fluorobenzenes; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011743:Pyrimidines; D051381:Rats; D011918:Rats, Inbred SHR; D000068718:Rosuvastatin Calcium; D013318:Stroke Volume / Q000502:physiology*; D013449:Sulfonamides; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D020257:Ventricular Remodeling / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
D005464:Fluorobenzenes; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D011743:Pyrimidines; D013449:Sulfonamides; D000068718:Rosuvastatin Calcium