Protective Effect of Simvastatin on Cultured Neonatal Rat Cardiomyocytes Apoptosis by H_2O_2

Objective To investigate the protective effect and mechanism of simvastatin on cultured cardiomyocytes apoptosis by H2O2.Methods About 2～3 days old Sprague-Dawley rat neonatal cardiac myocytes were cultured,the cultured cells were divided into five groups,namely control group,damage group(H2O2 0.2 mmol/L),damage+1 mol/L simvastatin group,damage+3 mol/L simvastatin group,and damage+10 mol/L simvastatin group.The activity of dehydrogenase in mito-chondria was detected by MTT assay.Apoptosis rates of the cells were analyzed by flow cytometry.Expression of caspase-3 of cardiomyocytes were determined by Western blotting.Results(1) H2O2 could induce injury on cultured cardiac myocyte.This was evident in the descent of cell livability detected by MTT.(2)The rate of cell apoptosis of control group was 6.64%,the injury group was 24.28%,and different concentrations of simvastatin(1 mol/L,3 mol/L,10 mol/L) groups were 18.83%,12.39%,8.93%(P0.01).(3)Compared with the damage group expression of caspase-3,the simvastatin(1 mol/L,3 mol/L,10 mol/L) groups were much lower.Conclusions The results showed that simvastatin decreased the apoptosis of cardiomyocytes induced by H2O2,and the protective effect may be related to caspase-3.