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Updated: Apr 8, 2026
In vitro Assessment of Myocardial Protection following Hypothermia-Preconditioning in a Human Cardiac Myocytes Model
Published on: October 27, 2020
Trimetazidine protects against hypoxia-reperfusion-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis by increasing microRNA-21
Qiong Yang1, Kan Yang1, An-Ying Li1
1Department of Cardiology, The Third Xiangya Hospital of Central South University 138 Tongzipo Road, Yuelu District, Changsha 410013, Hunan Province, China.
Abstract:
Myocardial tissue injury caused by ischemia and hypoxia is a major cause of fatal diseases, including coronary atherosclerosis resulting from myocardial infarction and stroke. Trimetazidine (TMZ), as an anti-ischemic and antioxidant agent, has been demonstrated to preventing ischemia/reperfusion-induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis. However, the anti-apoptosis mechanism of TMZ has not been fully elucidated. The present study demonstrated that miR-21 involved trimetazidine-induced anti-apoptosis during H/R injury in H9C2 cell. In this study, TMZ increased miR-21 expression which further upregulated the Akt signaling activity via suppressing the expression of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) in H/R H9C2 cell. The increased activity of Akt signaling decreased the ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 and the expression of caspase-3 and inhibited H/R induced apoptosis. In conclusion, this study revealed the mechanism that TMZ up-regulated miR-21 expression, then miR-21 targeted PTEN increasing the PI3K pathway and finally the activation of this pathway counteracted the apoptotic effect of hypoxia/reperfusion.
