The effects of fluvastatin on the prevention of heart muscle ischemia reperfusion injury in rabbits

Objective To investigate the effects and mechanism of different dosage of fluvastatin on the prevention of heart muscle ischemia reperfusion injury in rabbits.Method Thirty-five rabbits were randomly divided into 5 groups with 7 rabbits in each: sham group,myocardial ischemia reperfusion control group,low dosage of fluvastatin pretreatment group (2 mg/kg,Group F1),middle dosage of fluvastatin pretreatment group(5 mg/kg,Group F2) and large dosage of fluvastatin pretreatment group(20 mg/kg,Group F3).The left ventricular systolic pressure(LVSP),the max rate of rise of left ventricular pressure(±dp/dt_(-max)) and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure(LVEDP) were detected during the experiment.At the end of reperfusion,the infarct size and area at risk were defined by Evans blue and TTC staining,and the levels of myocardial nitrogen monoxidum(NO) and nitricoxide synthase(NOS) were measured.Result Compared with the ischemia reperfusion group,the indexes of heart function improved significantly,the level of myocardial NO was increased significantly and the myocardial infarct size was decreased significantly in the groups F2 and F3.There was no significant difference between the group F1 and ischemia reperfusion group.Conclusion Fluvastatin exerts a cardioprotective effect against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury in rabbits.NO is likely involved in this protective mechanism.