PITAVASTATIN PRECONDITIONING REDUCES MYOCARDIUM ISCHAEMIA/REPERFUSION INJURY THROUGH MICROVASCULAR PROTECTION IN MICE

Objectives To examine whether Pitavastatin Preconditioning could effectively reduce ischaemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) and the underlying mechanisms involved. Methods Ligated the anterior descending coronary artery for 30 minutes and then loosen the ligation for 1 hour to establish ischaemia/reperfusion model in mice. A potent 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, pitavastatin was given to the mice as a single dose (5 mg/kg or 10 mg/kg) by gavage 1 hour before reperfusion. Animals were divided into 5 groups (control group, ischaemia group, ischaemia/reperfusion group, pitavastatin 5mg groups and pitavastain 10 mg group). Extravasated Evans blue dye measured by spectrophotometry 30 minutes after reperfusion to assess ischaemia/reperfusion injury (IRI)-induced vascular leakage. We introduced in vivo cryotechnique (IVCT), which immediately cryofixes beating heart tissue of living mice in situ , to measure the heart microvascular reperfusion situation. Results Pitavastatin Preconditioning prevented IRI-induced vascular leakage and improve microvascular blood reflow, decreased the LDH, CK-MB, CRP and immflammatory factors expression (P Conclusions Our results demonstrated that Pitavastatin Preconditioning reduces Myocardium ischaemia/reperfusion injury through Microvascular protection: preventing microvascular endothelial cells dysfunction and improving Cx43 expression.