Resveratrol Attenuates Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis in Rats Induced by Coronary Microembolization Through SIRT1-Mediated Deacetylation of p53.

Objective: Coronary microembolization (CME)-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis is the primary factor in causing cardiac dysfunction. Resveratrol (RES) is known to play a protective role in a variety of cardiovascular diseases, yet it is not known whether RES has a protective role in CME. Therefore, the effect of RES on cardiomyocyte apoptosis and cardiac function damage which are induced by CME in rats was investigated in this study.

Methods: Fifty Sprague-Dawley rats were separated into 5 groups randomly (10 rats were included in each): sham group, CME group, RES+CME group, RES+CME+Sirtuin-1 (SIRT-1) inhibitor EX527 (RES+CME+EX) group, and CME+EX group. Cardiac function, serum c-troponin I (cTnI) level, apoptotic index, and microinfarct were measured by cardiac ultrasound, myocardial enzyme assessment, TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-end labeling and hematoxylin-basic fuchsin-picric acid staining. The levels of p53, p53 acetylation, SIRT-1, Bax, Bcl-2, and cleaved caspase-3 were detected by Western blot.

Results: Myocardial dysfunction, enhanced apoptotic index as well as cTnI were caused after the operation of CME. Coronary microembolization induced increased expression of p53 acetylation and cleaved caspase-3, while the SIRT-1 and Bcl-2/Bax ratio was reduced. The CME effect was reversed by RES while EX527 attenuated this protective effect.

Conclusions: Resveratrol can improve cardiac function, in the sense that it attenuates CME-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis, which is perhaps associated with its inhibition pro-apoptotic pathway of p53 which is transcription-independent.