Abstract:
AIM To explore the protective effects of nicorandil in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/RI) and develop new ideas for the clinical application of nicorandil.
METHODS H9C2 myocardial cells were incubated in hypoxic conditions for 4 hours and then reoxygenated for 12 hours to create hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) paradigm of cardiomyocytes for simulating myocardial I/RI. The expressions of p-NF-κBp65 and p-IκBa were determined by Western blot. ELISA was performed to examine the expressions of intracellular inflammatory factors TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β, and nicorandil and its inhibitor 5-Hydroxydecanoate (5-HD) were applied to intervene to clarify the effects of nicorandil on the inflammatory response.
RESULTS In H9C2 cells, H/R promoted inflammatory response. Compared with those in the control group, in the H/R group the expressions of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β were significantly increased (P<0.01), the protein expressions of p-NFκBp65 and p-IκBa were also significantly increased (P<0.01), and no obvious changes were observed in protein expressions of NFκBp65 and IκBa. Nicorandil alleviated the effects of H/R-induced H9C2 cells. In contrast to those in the H/R group, the expressions of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β were significantly reduced and the protein expressions of p-NFκBp65 and p-IκBa were also significantly reduced (P<0.01) after adding 100 μM nicorandil (P<0.01). The effects that nicorandil affected H/R-induced H9C2 cells could be inhibited by 5-HD. Compared with those in the nicorandil+H/R group, the expressions of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β were significantly higher and the protein expressions of p-NFκBp65 and p-IκBa were significantly increased after adding 250 μM 5-HD (P<0.01). No significant changes in protein expressions of NFκBp65 and IκBa were shown under different treatment conditions.
CONCLUSIONS Nicorandil ameliorates the H/R-induced inflammatory response in cardiomyocytes, which can be reversed by 5-HD.