Atorvastatin Study Of The Protective Effect And Mechanism Of Pressure Overload Cardiac Hypertrophy

Objective Myocardial hypertrophy which can be caused by many heart diseases is a independent risk factor of the motality of cardiovascular disease.The purpose of this study is to observe the effect of atorvastatin on the myocardial hypertrophy caused by pressure overload and to find out the possible mechanisms.Method 40 wistar rats were randomized into myocardial hypertrophy group,drug group, fake operation group and control group.Pressure overload was achieved by surgical constricting the abdominal aortal.The animal in fake operation group underwent peritoneotomy and the abdominal aortal was isolated without being ligated.After the operation the rats in drug group were treated with atorvastatin by intragastric administration(2mg/kg·d),while the others were treated with normal saline by intragastric administration at the same time.All rats were sacrificed 8 weeks after the operation then the heart weight to body ratio and left ventricular weight to body were measured.The expressions of interleukin 18(IL-18) and cardiotrophin(CT-1) in the cadiocyte were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).We also measured the thickness of left ventricular wall and the diameter of the cadiocyte through pathological examination.Result Compared to control group,the heart weight to body ratio,the left ventricular weight to body,the expressions of IL-18 and CT-1 in myocardial hypertrophy group were significantly increased(p＜0.05).The thickness of left ventricular wall and the diameter of cadiocyte were higher in hypertrophy group than in the other groups(p＜0.05).While in the drug group these indexes were lower compared with the myocardial hypertrophy group(p＜0.05) and had no significant differences between control group(p≥0.05).Conclusion.Atorvastatin can prevent the myocardial hypertrophy caused by pressure overload and these may attribute to its anti-inflammation effect.