Effects of Apelin-13 on rat myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in vivo and its signal transduction pathway / 上海第二医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the role of apelin-13, a vasoactive peptide, in rat myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in vivo and explore its signal transduction pathway. Methods Rats were randomly divided into control group (n=10) and Apelin-13 group (n=15), and in vivo models of rat myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury were established. Normal saline (control group) or Apelin-13 (Apelin-13 group) was administered intravenously 5 min before reperfusion. TTC and Evan's blue staining were used to determine the infarction size (IS) and area at risk (AAR), apoptotic cells were quantified by TUNEL method, and the expression of ERK1/2 was determined by Western blotting. Results IS/AAR and apoptosis index of Apelin-13 group were significantly lower than those in control group [(38.33±12.95) % vs (52.61±11.00)% and (0.21±0.02) vs (0.31±0.05)](P <0.05). The expression of p-ERK1/2 in Apelin-13 group was significantly increased than that in control group [(1.15±0.16) vs (0.63±0.07)](P < 0.05). Conclusion Apelin-13 may protect rat hearts from in vivo ischemia-reperfusion injury, reduce infarction size and attenuate myocardial apoptosis, which may be mediated by the activation of ERK1/2 MAPK signal transduction pathway.