Teucrium polium L. Improved Heart Function and Inhibited Myocardial Apoptosis in Isolated Rat Heart Following Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury

Objectives: Myocardial reperfusion is the only logical cure for ischemic heart disease.However, ischemic-reperfusion (I/R) injury is one of the underlying factors facilitating and accelerating the apoptosis in the myocardium.This study set to investigate the impact of Teucrium polium (TP) hydro-alcoholic extract on I/R induced apoptosis in the isolated rat heart.Methods: Isolated rat hearts were classified into six groups.The control samples were subjected to 80 min of perfusion with Krebs-Henseleit bicarbonate (KHB) buffer; in control-ischemia group, after primary perfusion (20 min) the hearts were exposed to global ischemia (20 min) and reperfusion (40 min).Pretreated groups were perfused with 500 µM of vitamin C and various TP concentrations (0.5, 1, 2 mg/ml) for 20 min, and then the hearts were exposed to ischemia and reperfusion for 20 min and 40 min, respectively.Cardiodynamic parame-ters including rate pressure product (RPP), heart rate (HR), the maximum up/down rate of left ventricular pressure (±dp/dt), left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP), and coronary artery flow (CF) were achieved from Lab Chart software data.The Bax and BCl-2 gene expressions were measured in heart samples.Results: Hearts treated with TP extract and vit C represented a meaningful improvement in cardiac contractile function and CF.The overexpression of Bcl-2, downregulation of Bax, and improvement of apoptotic index (Bax/Bcl-2) were observed in pretreated TP extract and vit C hearts. Conclusion:The TP extract was found to ameliorate the cardiac function in the reperfused myocardium.Also, it can hinder apoptotic pathways causing cardioprotection.