Short-term diabetes attenuates left ventricular dysfunction and mortality rates after myocardial infarction in rodents

Myocardial Adaptation in Pseudohypoxia: Signaling and Regulation of mPTP via Mitochondrial Connexin 43 and Cardiolipin

Therapies intended to mitigate cardiovascular complications cannot be applied in practice without detailed knowledge of molecular mechanisms. Mitochondria, as the end-effector of cardioprotection, represent one of the possible therapeutic approaches. The present review provides an overview of factors affecting the regulation processes of mitochondria at the level of mitochondrial permeability transition pores (mPTP) resulting in comprehensive myocardial protection. The regulation of mPTP seems to be an important part of the mechanisms for maintaining the energy equilibrium of the heart under pathological conditions. Mitochondrial connexin 43 is involved in the regulation process by inhibition of mPTP opening. These individual cardioprotective mechanisms can be interconnected in the process of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation resulting in the maintenance of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. In this context, the degree of mitochondrial membrane fluidity appears to be a key factor in the preservation of ATP synthase rotation required for ATP formation. Moreover, changes in the composition of the cardiolipin’s structure in the mitochondrial membrane can significantly affect the energy system under unfavorable conditions. This review aims to elucidate functional and structural changes of cardiac mitochondria subjected to preconditioning, with an emphasis on signaling pathways leading to mitochondrial energy maintenance during partial oxygen deprivation.

Mitochondria as a target of cardioprotection in models of preconditioning

Over the recent years the view on mitochondria in the heart as a cellular powerhouse providing ATP supply needed to sustain contractile function, basal metabolic processes, and ionic homeostasis has changed radically. At present it is known that dysfunctions of these organelles are essential in the development of a large number of diseases, including cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, mitochondria are considered to be a very promising target of endogenous strategies that are essential in the protection of the myocardium from acute ischemia/reperfusion injury. These strategies including ischemic preconditioning, remote ischemic preconditioning as well as the acute phase of streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus, provide a similar effect of protection. Alterations observed in the functional and structural properties of heart mitochondria caused by short-term pathological impulses are associated with endogenous cardioprotective processes. It seems that the extent of mitochondrial membrane fluidization could be an active response mechanism to injury with a subtle effect on membrane-associated processes which further affect the environment of the whole organelle, thus inducing metabolic changes in the heart. In this review article, we provide an overview of endogenous protective mechanisms induced by hypoxic, pseudohypoxic and ischemic conditions with special consideration of the role of heart mitochondria in these processes.

Glucose and fatty acid metabolism in infarcted heart from streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats after 2 weeks of tissue remodeling

Background

The effects of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes on heart metabolism and function after myocardial infarction (MI) remodelling were investigated in rats.

Methods

Fifteen days after STZ (50 mg/kg b.w. i.v.) injection, MI was induced by surgical occlusion of the left coronary artery. Two weeks after MI induction, contents of glycogen, ATP, free fatty acids and triacylglycerols (TG) and enzyme activities of glycolysis and Krebs cycle (hexokinase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, phosphofructokinase, citrate synthase) and expression of carnitine palmitoyl-CoA transferase I (a key enzyme of mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation) were measured in the left ventricle (LV). Plasma glucose, free fatty acids and triacylglycerol levels were determined. Ejection fraction (EF) and shortening fraction (SF) were also measured by echocardiography.

Results

Glycogen and TG contents were increased (p < 0.05) whereas ATP content was decreased in the LV of the non-infarcted diabetic group when compared to the control group (p < 0.05). When compared to infarcted control rats (MI), the diabetic infarcted rats (DI) showed (p < 0.05): increased plasma glucose and TG levels, elevated free fatty acid levels and increased activity of, citrate synthase and decreased ATP levels in the LV. Infarct size was smaller in the DI group when compared to MI rats (p < 0.05), and this was associated with higher EF and SF (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Systolic function was preserved or recovered more efficiently in the heart from diabetic rats two weeks after MI, possibly due to the high provision of glucose and free fatty acids from both plasma and heart glycogen and triacylglycerol stores.

Role of exercise training on autonomic changes and inflammatory profile induced by myocardial infarction

The cardiovascular autonomic imbalance in patients after myocardial infarction (MI) provides a significant increase in mortality rate, and seems to precede metabolic, hormonal, and immunological changes. Moreover, the reduction in the parasympathetic function has been associated with inflammatory response in different pathological conditions. Over the years, most of the studies have indicated the exercise training (ET) as an important nonpharmacological tool in the management of autonomic dysfunction and reduction in inflammatory profile after a myocardial infarction. In this work, we reviewed the effects of ET on autonomic imbalance after MI, and its consequences, particularly, in the post-MI inflammatory profile. Clinical and experimental evidence regarding relationship between alterations in autonomic regulation and local or systemic inflammation response after MI were also discussed.

Fasting hyperglycemia increases in-hospital mortality risk in nondiabetic female patients with acute myocardial infarction: a retrospective study

Previous studies had shown that elevated admission plasma glucose (APG) could increase mortality rate and serious complications of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but whether fasting plasma glucose (FPG) had the same role remains controversial. In this retrospective study, 253 cases of AMI patients were divided into diabetic (n = 87) and nondiabetic group (n = 166). Our results showed that: compared with the nondiabetic patients, diabetic patients had higher APG, FPG, higher plasma triglyceride, higher rates of painless AMI (P < 0.01), non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), and reinfraction (P < 0.05). They also had lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol and rate of malignant arrhythmia, but in-hospital mortality rate did not differ significantly (P > 0.05). While nondiabetic patients were subgrouped in terms of APG and FPG (cut points were 11.1 mmol/L and 7.0 mmol/L, resp.), the mortality rate had significant difference (P < 0.01), whereas glucose level lost significance in diabetic group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that FPG (OR: 2.014; 95% confidence interval: 1.296-3.131; p < 0.01) but not APG was independent predictor of in-hospital mortality for nondiabetic patients. These results indicate that FPG can be an independent predictor for mortality in nondiabetic female patients with AMI.

Impact of myocardial infarction on cardiac autonomic function in diabetic rats

AIMS

We evaluated autonomic and hemodynamic parameters and maximal oxygen consumption (VO(2)max) as possible determinants of mortality in streptozotocin (STZ) diabetic rats after myocardial infarction (MI).

METHOD

Male Wistar rats were divided into (n=8 of each): control sham (CS), diabetes sham (DS), MI (I), and diabetes+MI (DI). MI was induced 15 days after STZ induction. VO(2)max was measured at 3 (basal), 30, 60, and 91 days after MI. Hemodynamic and autonomic parameters were evaluated 92 days after MI.

RESULTS

MI area was similar in infarcted groups (~44%). Mortality rate increased in the DI (70%) compared with I (53%) group. Cardiopulmonary baroreflex, sympathetic (48%) and vagal (33%) tonus, low frequency (LF) band (57%), and LF/high frequency (HF) band ratio (53%) were reduced in DI compared with I animals. Furthermore, cardiac output (CO), peripheral vascular resistance (PVR) impairment, and VO(2)max reductions were observed in the DI compared with the I group.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data suggest that the CO and PVR changes as well as VO(2)max reduction were probably associated with additional cardiac autonomic control impairment, and, consequently, increased mortality rate in diabetic rats after a chronic myocardial infarction.