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Protective effects of hydrogen sulfide against chronic alcohol intake-induced left ventricular remodeling in rats
Xiang Zhou1, Xiang Lu, Weiting Xu
1Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, No.1055 Sanxiang Road, Suzhou 215004, China. zhou-xiang@suda.edu.cn
Purpose:
To investigate the protective effects of hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) against chronic alcohol intake-induced left ventricular remodeling and explore the potential mechanisms involved.
Methods:
Rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: alcohol group, NaHS group, alcohol + NaHS group, and control group. The echocardiographic and morphometric studies were performed to assess left ventricular remodeling. Oxidative stress was evaluated by detecting MDA, GSH-Px, Tot-SOD, CuZn-SOD and Mn-SOD in the supernatant. Cardiomyocyte apoptotic rate was determined by flow cytometry with Annexin V/PI staining. Western blotting was conducted to detect the expression of Bcl-2 family of apoptosis regulator proteins.
Results:
The echocardiographic and morphometric data indicated that H(2)S has protective effects against chronic alcohol intake-induced left ventricular remodeling. Our findings showed a significant increase in MDA level and decreases in GSH-Px, Tot-SOD, CuZn-SOD and Mn-SOD activities in the alcohol group compared to the control group, while in the alcohol + NaHS group, a significant decrease in MDA level and increases in GSH-Px, Tot-SOD, CuZn-SOD and Mn-SOD activities were found compared to the alcohol group. The apoptotic rate in the alcohol group was significantly higher than in the control group, whereas apoptotic rate in the alcohol + NaHS group was significantly lower than in the alcohol group. In addition, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL expression was upregulated and Bax expression was downregulated in the alcohol + NaHS group compared to the alcohol group.
Conclusions:
Our study demonstrates that H(2)S protects against chronic alcohol intake-induced left ventricular remodeling via attenuating oxidative stress and apoptosis.
