The altered expression profile of microRNAs in cardiopulmonary bypass canine models and the effects of mir-499 on myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs were enrolled in various cardiovascular disease especially ischemic heart diseases, but the microRNA changes during myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury underwent cardiopulmonary bypass are still unknown. This study screens the microRNA differences in CPB canines and evaluates the relationship of microRNAs with myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury. METHODS: 13 healthy canines received CPB with 60 minutes of aortic clamping and cardioplegic arrest, followed by 90 minutes reperfusion. Left ventricular myocardial samples, blood samples and hemodynamic data were taken at different time points. We performed microRNAs microarray experiments upon the left ventricle myocardium tissue of canines before CPB and after reperfusion for 90 minutes by pooling 3 tissue samples together and used qRT-PCR for confirmation. RESULTS: Statistically significant difference was found in mir-499 level before CPB and after reperfusion (T1 vs. T4, p = 0.041). We further examined the mir-499 levels by using qRT-PCR in all 13 canines at 4 different time points (T1 vs. T4, p = 0.029). Mir-499 expression was negatively correlated with cardiac troponin T (cTnT) and creatine kinase- MB (CK-MB) levels of canines in all time points samples (r = 0.469, p < 0.001 and r = 0.273, p = 0.050 respectively). Moreover, higher mir-499 expression level was associated with higher dP/dt(max) at 25 minutes and 90 minutes after reperfusion. CONCLUSION: Myocardial ischemic reperfusion injury with cardiopulmonary bypass results in declining level of mir-499 expression in left ventricle myocardium of canines, suggesting mir-499 would be a potential therapeutic target in cardiac protection during open heart surgery.