Effect of ischemic postconditioning on cell apoptosis and expression of relevant genes in non-culprit coronary arteries

This study was performed to determine the effect of ischemic postconditioning on cell apoptosis and angiotensin II receptor type 1 (AT1), connexin 43 (Cx43), and β-tubulin mRNA expression in non-culprit arteries. Non-culprit arterial tissues were isolated from a rabbit myocardial ischemia-reperfusion model and randomly divided into sham, ischemia-reperfusion, and ischemic postconditioning groups. Cell apoptosis was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) staining. Expression of angiotensin II, AT1, Cx43, and β-tubulin mRNA was evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). TUNEL analysis indicated significantly higher ratios of apoptotic cells in the ischemia-reperfusion group than in the sham group. However, significantly fewer apoptotic cells were observed in the ischemic postconditioning group than in the ischemia-reperfusion group. The qRT-PCR results indicated significantly higher expression of AT1, Cx43, and β-tubulin mRNA in the ischemia-reperfusion group than in the sham group. However, expression of AT1, Cx43, and β-tubulin was lower in the ischemic postconditioning group than in the ischemia-reperfusion group. The ratios of apoptotic cells and mRNA expression of AT1, Cx43, and β-tubulin in non-culprit arteries were increased after ischemia-reperfusion. Ischemic postconditioning may decrease these features and inhibit the progression of non-culprit arteries.