Abstract
Ghrelin has a protective role in a rat model of myocardial infarction (MI), but the underlying mechanism is not clear. Here, we investigated the effects of ghrelin treatment on angiogenesis in an experimental rat MI model. Adult male Sprague–Dawley rats were subjected to MI by ligating the anterior descending coronary artery. The rats were then treated with a subcutaneous injection of ghrelin (100μg/kg) or saline (control group) for 4weeks. Sham animals underwent thoracotomy and pericardiotomy, but not LAD ligation. At 28days after ligation, the ghrelin treatment group showed a higher density of α-SMA positive vessels than the saline treatment MI group in myocardial infarct (6±2.1/mm2 vs 4±1.8/mm2, P<0.05) and peri-infarct zones (25±9.5/mm2 vs 15±5.7/mm2, P<0.05). RT-PCR and western-blot analyses showed that ghrelin significantly increased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in the peri-infarct zone compared with the control group. Moreover, there was a two-fold increase of Bcl-2 and a 3.5-fold reduction of the Bax protein in the ghrelin-treated MI group compared to the saline treatment MI group. Taken together, ghrelin could induce angiogenesis in rats after MI, the process that may be associated with the enhancement of VEGF and an anti-apoptosis effect.
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