Telmisartan reduces arrhythmias through increasing cardiac connexin43 by inhibiting IL-17 after myocardial infarction in rats.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the expressions of myocardial connexin43 (Cx43) and interleukin-17 (IL-17) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) rats and investigate its possible mechanism of telmisartan in the prevention and treatment of arrhythmia in AMI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were selected and myocardial infarction model was established. After the successful modeling, the rats were randomly divided into three groups: Sham group, MI group, Telm group. Ventricular arrhythmias was induced by the programmed electrical stimulation at 2, 4, 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, rats were sacrificed and heart tissues were collected for immunohistochemistry and Western blot detection. RESULTS: Telmisartan reduced the induction rate of ventricular arrhythmia after myocardial infarction in rats. Telmisartan increased the Cx43 expression while reduced the IL-17 expression in myocardial infarction in rats. Moreover, there was a negative correlation between the expressions of Cx43 and IL-17 after myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS: Telmisartan can reduce the occurrence rate of malignant arrhythmias after myocardial infarction, whose mechanism may be increasing the Cx43 expression through inhibition of IL-17 expression.