Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the main causes of death from cardiovascular disease.
Curcumin was shown to exert potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiangiogenic, antimutagenic,
anticoagulant and antidiabetic activities. This study was done to investigate the protective effects of
curcumin in isoproterenol (ISO) induced myocardial injury in rats. Forty-eight rats were divided
into 6 equal groups. Group I: (normal control) rats received no drugs. Group II :(curcumin) rats
received curcumin (200 mg/kg b.wt/day) orally for 30 days. Group III: (acute myocardial
infarction) rats injected ISO (20mg/kg b.wt /intraperitoneally) twice at the 29th and 30th days of
experiment. Group IV: (chronic myocardial infarction) rats injected ISO (20mg/kg b.wt
/intraperitoneally) twice at the 1st and 2nd days of experiment. Group V: (acute myocardial
infarction + curcumin) rats received curcumin (200 mg/kg b.wt/day) for 30 days, then ISO was
injected twice, at an interval of 24 hours, on the 29th and 30th days .Group VI: (chronic myocardial
infarction + curcumin) rats injected ISO at the 1st and 2nd days of experiment and treated with
curcumin for 30 days. Blood samples and heart tissue specimens were collected at the end of
experimental period (30 days) for determination of serum Creatine kinase MB (CK-MB), Lactate
dehydrogenase (LDH), cardiac Troponins (cTn) and Interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Moreover, heart tissues
catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), reduced glutathione (GSH) and L-Malondialdhyde
(L-MDA) were also determined. The obtained results showed a significant increase in serum
cardiac marker enzymes (CK-MB and LDH) activities, cTn and IL-1β concentrations in addition to
L-MDA in heart tissues of ISO-induced myocardial injury in rats. However, GPx and CAT
activities and GSH concentration in heart tissues of myocardial infarction induced in rats were
markedly decreased. Curcumin treatment was able to protect rat myocardium against isoproternol
induced myocardial ischemic damage and the protective effect was attributed to its antioxidant
properties by inhibiting free radical generation. |
