Abstract
Myocardial infarction (MI) is the most serious manifestation of coronary artery disease and the cause of significant mortality and morbidity worldwide. Galectin-1(GAL-1), a divalent 14.5-kDa protein, is present both inside and outside cells, and has both intracellular and extracellular functions. Hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) is a transcription factor mediating early and late responses to myocardial ischemia. Identification of the pattern of expression of GAL-1 and HIF-1α in the heart during the first 24 hours following acute MI will help in understanding early molecular changes in this event and may provide methods to overcome serious complications. Mouse model of MI was used and heart samples were processed for immunohistochemical and immunofluorescent labeling and Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay to identify GAL-1 and HIF 1α levels in the heart during the first 24 hours following MI. There was significant increase in left ventricular GAL-1 at 20 (p = 0.001) and 30 minutes (p = 0.004) following MI. There was also a significant increase in plasma GAL-1 at 4 hours (p = 0.012) and 24 hours (p = 0.001) following MI. A significant increase in left ventricular HIF-1 α was seen at 20 minutes (p = 0.047) following MI. In conclusion, we show for the first time that GAL-1 level in the left ventricle is increased in early ischemic period. We also report for the first time that HIF-1 α is significantly increased at 20 minutes following MI. In addition we report for the first time that mouse plasma GAL-1 level is significantly raised as early as 4 hours following MI.
Highlights
Myocardial infarction (MI) is the most dreaded but likely manifestation of coronary artery disease, which is the cause of significant mortality and morbidity worldwide
Galectin-1 [GAL-1] is a prototypical member of the galectin family of lectins. It is a divalent 14.5-kDa protein characterized by one carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) that can occur as a monomer or as a non-covalent homodimer consisting of subunits of one CRD [1,4]
HIF-1 a protein concentration shows a significant increase in the left ventricle (LV) at 20 minutes following MI group compared to sham operated control group (95.5612.4 vs 65.660.7 pg/mg, P = 0.047*) (Table 1) (Fig. 2 A)
Summary
Myocardial infarction (MI) is the most dreaded but likely manifestation of coronary artery disease, which is the cause of significant mortality and morbidity worldwide. Galectin-1 [GAL-1] is a prototypical member of the galectin family of lectins. It is a divalent 14.5-kDa protein characterized by one carbohydrate recognition domain (CRD) that can occur as a monomer or as a non-covalent homodimer consisting of subunits of one CRD [1,4]. GAL-1 is present both inside and outside cells, and has both intracellular and extracellular functions. GAL-1 is secreted through the non-classical pathway via inside-out transportation involving direct translocation across the plasma membrane and requiring unidentified integral membrane proteins and cytosolic factors [14]. In the extracellular compartment GAL-1 regulates cell-cell and cellmatrix interactions, the immune response, apoptosis, and neoplastic transformation. Intracellular GAL-1 has been shown to be present in cells nuclei and cytosols [4]. GAL-1 is involved in very important functions in vitro and in vivo, GAL-1 null mice are viable indicating that its presence is not critical for mammalian development or survival [11]
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