Dynamic changes and the relationship between cardiac function damage and glycogen synthase kinase-3 β expression induced by coronary microembolization in rats

Abstract

Background: Coronary microembolization (CME) is a severe complication in the treatment of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). It is a distal microvascular embolism caused by the shedding of atherosclerotic plaque debris, which can directly lead to “no blood flow” or “slow blood flow”. Aims: This study investigates the dynamic changes and the relationship between cardiac function damage and GSK-3β expression induced by coronary microembolization (CME) in rats. Materials and Methods: Specific Sprague Dawley rats (SD rats) were evenly divided into a microembolization group (CME group) and a sham operation group (Sham group). Each group of rats was randomly subdivided into 0h, 3h, 9h, and 24h groups. Results: Echocardiographic parameters showed that the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of the CME group was significantly lower than that of the sham group with the exception of the 0h time point (P < 0.05). The results of ELISA showed that the levels of TNF-α and IL-1β in myocardial tissue of the CME group began to increase at 3h, reached a peak at 9h, and decreased at 24h (P < 0.05). Western blot analysis showed that the protein expression of NF-κB p65 in the CME group began to increase at 3 h, peaked at 9h, and decreased at 24h. The protein expression of phospho-GSK-3β(Ser 9) began to decrease at 3 h, reached a low peak at 9 h, and increased at 24 h (P < 0.05). Conclusion: GSK-3βis involved in the damage of cardiac function induced by CME and shows obvious time-variation, which may be achieved by regulating the expression of TNF-α in myocardium.

Keywords

• Cardiac function
• coronary microembolism
• glycogen synthase kinase-3 β
• myocardial inflammation