Role of autophagy in attenuation of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury by diazoxide in isolated rat heart

Objective To evaluate the role of autophagy in attenuation of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury by diazoxide in the isolated rat heart.Methods Thirty-two male SD rats were randomly assigned into 4 groups ( n = 8 each) : I/R group, diazoxide group (group D), an inhibitor of autophagy wortmannin + diazoxide group (group WT＞) and wortmannin group (group W) . The animals were anesthetized with intraperitoneal pento-barbital sodium 40 mg/kg. Their hearts were excised and passively perfused in a Langendorff apparatus with an oxygenated (95% O2-5% CO2 ) K-H solution at 37 °C . The isolated hearts were made globally ischemic for 20 min followed by 30 min reperfusion. In I/R and W groups, the isolated hearts were perfused with K-H solution for 10 min before ischemia, while the isolated hearts were perfused with K-H solution containing diazoxide 100 /xmol/L for 10 min before ischemia in D and WD groups. The HR, left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) were recorded immediately before perfusion with diazoxide, immediately before the end of perfusion and at 30 min of reperfusion.Myocardial tissues were obtained at 30 min of reperfusion for determination of SOD activity, MDA content and autophagy-related protein Beclin-1 expression (by immunohistochemistry). The formation of autophagosomes was observed by transmission electron microscopy. ResultsCompared with group I/R, LVDP, HR, SOD activity and Beclin-1 expression were significantly increased at 30 min of reperfusion, while LVEDP and MDA content were significantly decreased at 30 min of reperfusion in group D(P＜0.05),and Beclin-1 expression was significantly decreased in WD and W groups(P＜0.05).Compared with group D, LVDP and Beclin-1 expression were significantly decreased, and MDA content was significantly increased in WD and W groups, and LVEDP was significantly increased, while SOD activity decreased in group W (P＜0.05). Microscopic examination showed that a large number of autophagosomes, a small number of autophagosomes and an extremely small number of autophagosomes were observed in D, WD and I/R groups respectively. Conclusion Autophagy is involved in attenuation of myocardial I/R injury by diazoxide in the isolated rat heart. Key words: Autophagy;  Diazoxide;  Myocardial reperfusion injury