Irbesartan ameliorate inflammatory responses, and apoptosis induced by myocardial ischemia/reperfusion in male rats

Myocardial ischemia–reperfusion (I-R) represents a clinically relevant problem associated with thrombolysis, angioplasty and coronary bypass surgery. This study was undertaken to investigate the potential role of Irbesartan in amelioration of myocardial I/R injury induced by ligation of coronary artery (LAD) in a rat model. We are pretreated the animals with Irbesartan 3mg/kg i.p. 30 minutes before ligation of LAD. At the end of experiment (2 h of reperfusion), blood samples were collected from the heart for measurement of plasma level of cardiac troponin I (cTn-I). Compared with the sham group, levels of myocardial TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, MCP-1, MIP-1 alpha, and plasma cTn-I were increased (P<0.05). Histologically, all rats in control group showed significant cardiac injury after I-R. Furthermore, rats in control group showed significant apoptosis. Irbesartan significantly counteract the increased in myocardium level of TNF-α, IL-1B, IL-6, MCP-1, MIP-1 alpha, plasma cTn-I and apoptotosis (P<0.05). Histological analysis revealed that Irbesartan markedly reduced the severity of heart injury in the rats underwent LAD ligation procedure. We concluded that Irbesartan may ameliorate myocardial I/R injury in rats via interfering with inflammatory reactions and apoptosis which induced by I/R injury.