| Summary: | Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is known as a therapeutic agent in treating cholestasis and liver diseases. Recently, UDCA has been suggested as a therapeutic drug for heart related diseases. Cardioprotective effect of UDCA against the development of ischemia has been studied. Yet, the mechanism of UDCA-cardioprotection is not clearly understood. Therefore, this study aimed to elucidate the mechanisms of UDCA cardioprotection against hypoxia by investigating the expression of caspase -3/-9 and ROS generation using an in vitro hypoxic heart model. A newborn (0-2 days old) rat heart was isolated for primary cell culture of cardiomyocytes. Hypoxia was chemically induced by using CoCl2. Cardiomyocytes were then incubated with UDCA. The treated cardiomyocytes were subjected for ROS generation detection assay, QuantiGene Plex assay for caspase-3/-9 gene expression and ELISA for caspase-3/-9 protein expression. The data were analyzed by using sample paired t-test and One-way ANOVA. Our results showed that UDCA abolishes the effects on CoCl2 in ROS production and UDCA downregulates caspase-9 protein expression in CoCl2 treated cardiomyocytes. This study provides an insight of UDCA in protecting cardiomyocytes against hypoxia mediated by anti-apoptosis mechanism. © 2017 Penerbit UTM Press. All rights reserved.
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