Acute effects of empagliflozin on open-loop baroreflex function and urinary glucose excretion in rats with chronic myocardial infarction

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors have exerted cardioprotective effects in clinical trials, but underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. As mitigating sympathetic overactivity is of major clinical concern in the mechanisms of heart failure treatments, we examined the effects of modulation of glucose handling on baroreflex-mediated sympathetic nerve activity and arterial pressure regulations in rats with chronic myocardial infarction (n = 9). Repeated 11-min step input sequences were used for an open-loop analysis of the carotid sinus baroreflex. An SGLT2 inhibitor, empagliflozin, was intravenously administered (10 mg/kg) after the second sequence. Neither the baroreflex neural nor peripheral arc significantly changed during the last observation period (seventh and eighth sequences) compared with the baseline period although urinary glucose excretion increased from near 0 (0.0089 ± 0.0011 mg min^-1 kg^-1) to 1.91 ± 0.25 mg min^-1 kg^-1. Hence, empagliflozin does not acutely modulate the baroreflex regulations of sympathetic nerve activity and arterial pressure in this rat model of chronic myocardial infarction.