Lisinopril has a cardio-protective effect on experimental acute autoimmune myocarditis in rats.
OBJECTIVE
The present study investigated the effect of lisinopril on experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) in rats, a histologically similar model to human acute myocarditis.


METHODS
Twenty four, six week-old male Wistar rats were randomly allocated into 4 groups of 6 rats each. Group I received no treatment. Group II received lisinopril at a dose of 15 mg/kg/day suspended in 1 ml of 2% gum acacia daily, from day 1 to day 21. To induce myocarditis, animals of groups III and IV were injected by 1 mg of porcine cardiac myosin on days 1 and 8. In addition, animals of group IV received lisinopril in gum acacia daily, from day 1 to day 21. All rats were sacrificed on day 21. Serum levels of creatine phosphokinase, troponin-T, tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 were estimated. Hearts were processed for histopathological, as well as immunohistochemical study for thioredoxin (TRX) immunoreactivity.


RESULTS
The wall of hearts from rats of myocarditis-lisinopril group showed mild focal myocarditis and a significant decrease of the mean percentage of pyknotic nuclei in cardiomyocytes, coincident with a significant decrease in serum biomarkers levels and TRX immunoreactivity, compared to myocarditis group.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study suggested a cardio-protective effect of lisinopril on acute EAM in rats, probably through a mechanism related to its suppressive effect on angiotensin II formation.
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.|Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Muhammad
M
Atteya
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.|Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
Raeesa A
RA
Mohamed
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Aly M
AM
Ahmed
Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.|Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
Nayira A
NA
Abdel-Baky
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Musaad A
MA
Alfayez
College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Hatim D
HD
Almalke
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.|Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. ahmedfathala@gmail.com or aelfouhil@ksu.edu.sa.
Ahmed F
AF
El Fouhil
D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006321:Heart / Q000187:drug effects*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017706:Lisinopril / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009205:Myocarditis / Q000473:pathology*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; D017706:Lisinopril