Simvastatin ameliorates ventricular remodeling via the TGF-β1 signaling pathway in rats following myocardial infarction

Statins are widely used in patients with cardiovascular diseases. A considerable number of previous studies revealed that the intracellular signaling of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 mediated the development of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis. However, whether statins can ameliorate ventricular remodeling in post-myocardial infarction via the TGF-β1 signaling pathway remains to be rigorously tested. The left anterior descending artery was ligated to induce a rat model of myocardial infarction. The rat model of myocardial infarction was treated with simvastatin through gastric gavage (10, 20 or 40 mg kg(−1)·d(−1)). All rats were sacrificed on day 28 after the myocardial infarction operation. The results revealed that simvastatin significantly improved the hemodynamic indexes, left ventricular mass index, the myocardial tissue structure, the cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area and the collagen volume fraction, and also showed that the levels of TGF-β1, TGF-activated kinase (TAK)1 and drosophila mothers against decapentaplegic (Smad)3 were significantly reduced following treatment with simvastatin, while the levels of Smad7 in the simvastatin treatment groups were markedly increased. The results of the present study suggested that statins ameliorated ventricular remodeling in post-myocardial infarction rats via the TGF-β1 signaling pathway, which provided a novel explanation for the pleiotropic effects of statins that benefit the cardiovascular system.