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Published on: April 11, 2012
TNF-alpha inhibitor adalimumab attenuates endotoxin induced cardiac damage in rats
Selim Durmaz1, Tünay Kurtoğlu2, Emin Barbarus1
1MD, Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Aydın, Turkey. Conception and design of the study, acquisition and analysis of data, final approval.
Purpose:
To investigate the effects of adalimumab pretreatment on the lipopolysaccharide-mediated myocardial injury.
Methods:
Twenty-eight Wistar rats were randomized into four groups (n=7). Control (C) group animals were injected once a day with intraperitoneal (i.p) 0.9 % saline for two days. In the Adalimumab (Ada) group, adalimumab was injected at a dose of 10 mg/kg/ day (i.p) for two days. Lipopolysaccharide (Lps) group rats were injected with a dose of 5 mg/kg (i.p) lipopolysaccharide. Lipopolysaccharide + Adalimumab (Lps+Ada) group rats received adalimumab before the administration of lipopolysaccharide. The animals were sacrificed 24 h after the last injection and blood samples were obtained for determination of biochemical cardiac injury markers and circulating levels of TNF-α and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Hearts were harvested for histological examination.
Results:
Endotoxin exposure resulted in significant increases in serum cardiac injury markers, serum cytokines and histological myocardial injury scores in the Lps group. The levels of circulating cytokines, cardiac injury markers and histological injury scores for myocardial necrosis, perivascular cell infiltration, and inflammation were significantly reduced in Lps+Ada as compared to Lps group (p<0.05).
Conclusions:
Adalimumab pretreatment reduces endotoxin-induced myocardial damage in rats. This beneficial effect is thought to be related to the reduction of cytokine release.
