| Objective: To investigate the effect of recombinant human erythropoietin (rh-EPO) on Mfn2 protein expression and myocardial apoptosis in rats with ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury.Methods: Experiments were performed in an adult SD rat model of MI. Rats were randomly divided into ischemia-reperfusion group (I/R) and EPO treatment group (I/R+EPO). A micro-manometer-tipped catheter was inserted into the left ventricle to record±dp/dtmax and myocardial infarct size were measured when reperfusion after 3h and 24h respectively in each group. The areas of the ischemia-reperfusion regions were harvested 3h and 24h after reperfusion and myocardial apoptosis was assessed by in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL staining), and Mfn2 protein expression was detected by immunohistochemistry metheod and Western Blot in each group.Results: 3h after reperfusion, the infarct size of EPO treatment group was not different from I/R group statistically, however, the infarct size in the EPO treatment group tended to reduce. The infarct size in the EPO treatment group was significantly smaller than I/R group after 24h reperfusion (18.52±1.71% and 33.41±7.49% respectively, p<0.05). 24h after reperfusion,±dp/dtmax in the EPO treatment group was remarkably better than those in I/R group ( p < 0.001 ) Myocardial apoptosis and Mfn2 protein expression were significantly higher in I/R group than EPO treatment group after 3h and 24h reperfusion.Conclusions: EPO can down-regulate myocardial Mfn2 protein expression and decrease myocardium apoptosis after ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats. |
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