Rho-kinase activation in leukocytes plays a pivotal role in myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury

PLoS One. 2014 Mar 17;9(3):e92242. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0092242. eCollection 2014.

Abstract

The Rho/Rho-kinase pathway plays an important role in many cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart failure, and myocardial infarction. Although previous studies have shown that Rho-kinase inhibitors reduce ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and cytokine production, the role of Rho-kinase in leukocytes during I/R injury is not well understood. Mice were subjected to 30-min ischemia and reperfusion. Rho-kinase activity was significantly greater in leukocytes subjected to myocardial I/R compared to the sham-operated mice. Administration of fasudil, a Rho-kinase inhibitor, significantly reduced the I/R-induced expression of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-6, C-C motif chemoattractant ligand 2 (CCL2), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, in leukocytes, compared with saline as the vehicle. Furthermore, fasudil decreased I/R-induced myocardial infarction/area at risk (IA) and I/R-induced leukocyte infiltration in the myocardium. Interestingly, IA in fasudil-administered mice with leukocyte depletion was similar to that in fasudil-administered mice. I/R also resulted in remarkable increases in the mRNA expression levels of the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-6, and CCL2 in the heart. Inhibition of Rho-kinase activation in leukocytes has an important role in fasudil-induced cardioprotective effects. Hence, inhibition of Rho-kinase may be an additional therapeutic intervention for the treatment of acute coronary syndrome.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • 1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine / analogs & derivatives
  • 1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine / pharmacology
  • Animals
  • Apoptosis / drug effects
  • Cytokines / blood
  • Enzyme Activation / drug effects
  • Inflammation Mediators / blood
  • Leukocytes / enzymology*
  • Leukocytes / pathology
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Myocardial Infarction / pathology
  • Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / blood
  • Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / enzymology*
  • Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / pathology*
  • Myocardium / enzymology
  • Myocardium / pathology
  • Neutrophil Infiltration / drug effects
  • Signal Transduction / drug effects
  • rho-Associated Kinases / antagonists & inhibitors
  • rho-Associated Kinases / metabolism*

Substances

  • Cytokines
  • Inflammation Mediators
  • 1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-Methylpiperazine
  • rho-Associated Kinases
  • fasudil

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C-24591092 to SU, C-25461049 to MT), and a Grant-in-aid for Young Scientists (B-25860590 to HO) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.