Cardio-protective effects of garlicin post-conditioning against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury

In this study, researchers from China evaluated the effect of post-conditioning using garlicin and if it can attenuate myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) in a catheter-based porcine model of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The results of their study were published in the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine.

• The researchers were interested in finding out if garlicin post-conditioning affects adhesion molecules integrin beta I (integrin B1)/CD29 and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1/CD31).
• For their study, they used 22 swine and divided them into three groups: Six were placed in the sham-operation group while eight swine each were placed in the catheter-based model and the garlicin-treated groups, respectively.
• They used a dilated balloon to occlude the left anterior descending coronary artery of the animals in the model and garlicin groups for two hours. They followed this procedure with reperfusion for three hours.
• The researchers injected the swine in the garlicin group with 1.88 mg/kg garlicin over a period of one hour before reperfusion.
• They performed real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR), immunohistochemistry, and Western blot to detect mRNA and protein expressions of their targets, namely, CD29 and CD31, three hours after reperfusion.
• The researchers found through hematoxylin-eosin staining that swine in the garlicin group had better myocardial structures after reperfusion than the untreated groups.
• Garlicin also inhibited both the mRNA and protein expressions of CD29 and CD31 in the reperfusion area and no-reflow area in treated swine.

Based on these results, the researchers concluded that garlicin post-conditioning confers cardioprotection against myocardial IRI in a catheter-based porcine model of AMI, possibly due to its ability to suppress the mRNA and subsequent protein expression of CD29 and CD31.

Journal Reference:

Yang P, Li JH, Li AL, Li J, Wang Y, Ren SY, Li XL. GARLICIN POST-CONDITIONING SUPPRESSES ADHESION MOLECULES IN A PORCINE MODEL OF MYOCARDIAL ISCHEMIA-REPERFUSION INJURY. Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine. 11 May 2017;25(1):31–36. DOI: 10.1007/s11655-017-2757-5