Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Morphine pretreatment reduces myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in heart failure rats via GSK-3β/Cx43 signaling proteins and apoptosis-related gene, Bcl-2/Bax

Xuelian Zhu¹, Zhihai Geng¹, Xi Han², Xianfeng Xin¹

¹Department of Anesthesiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Jiamusi University; ²Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Jiamusi University, Jiamusi, PR China.

For correspondence:-

Accepted: 28 May 2020 Published: 30 June 2020

Citation: Zhu X, Geng Z, Han X, Xin X. Morphine pretreatment reduces myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in heart failure rats via GSK-3β/Cx43 signaling proteins and apoptosis-related gene, Bcl-2/Bax. Trop J Pharm Res 2020; 19(6):1173-1178 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v19i6.8

© 2020 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of morphine preconditioning on myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury in heart failure rats, and the mechanism(s) of action involved

Methods: Seventy-two healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to 4 groups: sham, model, morphine-preconditioning and SB203580 inhibitor groups, each with 18 rats. The expressions of P-p38, p-glycogen synthetase kinase-3, and p-gap junction protein 43 in rat myocardial cells were assayed by Western blotting. The mRNA expression levels of Bcl-2 and Bax, and Bcl-2/Bax were determined using real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR.

Results: The expression levels of P-p38, p-glycogen synthetase kinase-3, p-gap junction protein 43, Bcl-2 mRNA and Bcl-2/Bax were significantly higher in the pretreatment group than in the model group, while Bax mRNA was significantly lower (p < 0.05). Moreover, the mRNA expression levels of P-p38, p-glycogen synthetase kinase-3, p-gap junction protein, Bcl-2, and Bcl-2/Bax in inhibitor-treated rats decreased significantly, when compared to the values for pretreatment rats; furthermore, Bax mRNA was markedly upregulated (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Morphine preconditioning significantly inhibits the expressions of GSK-3β and Cx43 signaling proteins, as well as apoptosis-related gene, Bcl-2 and Bax. In addition, it inhibits the apoptosis of rat cardiomyocytes, and reduces myocardial injury, after ischemia reperfusion, via activation of the p38 MARK signaling pathway. This provides a new strategy for clinical reduction of myocardial injury after ischemia-reperfusion.

Keywords: Morphine, Pretreatment, GSK-3β/Cx43 signaling protein, Bcl-2/Bax, Heart failure, Ischemia-reperfusion injury