Atorvastatin Protects Myocardium Against Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury Through Inhibiting miR-199a-5p.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the protective effects of atorvastatin against myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in cardiomyocytes and its possible underlying mechanism.

Method: Direct cytotoxic effect of OGD/R on cardiomyocytes with and without atorvastatin pretreatment was evaluated. Effects of atorvastatin on expression of GSK-3β and miR-199a-5p were determined using RT-PCR and Western blot. In addition, GSK-3β expression with miR-199a-5p upregulation and downregulation was detected using RT-PCR, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry.

Results: Pretreatment with atorvastatin significantly improved the recovery of cells viability from OGD/R (p<0.05). In addition, the atorvastatin pretreatment significantly increased GSK-3β expression both in mRNA level and protein level and decreased miR-199a-5p expression in mRNA level (p<0.05). Upregulation and downregulation of miR-199a-5p respectively decreased and increased GSK-3β expression both in mRNA level and protein level.

Conclusion: These results suggested that atorvastatin provides the cardioprotective effects against I/R injury via increasing GSK-3β through inhibition of miR-199a-5p.