Effect of atorvastatin combined with coenzyme Q10 on uncoupling protein 2 gene expression in rats with heart failure after myocardial infarction

Objectiv to study the anti-oxidation effects of atorvastatin and coenzyme Q10 on heart failure in rats. Methods: After ligating their left anterior descending coronary artery and feeding for 6 weeks, 24 survived rats were randomly divided into sham group (n=6), model group (n=6), atorvastatin group (n=6) and atorvastatin + coenzyme Q10 group (n=6). Following continuous intragastric administration for 5 weeks, hemodynamic parameters, heart weight/body weight (HW/BW), left ventricular heart weight/body weight (LVHW/BW), serum superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) level were measured for rats. UCP2 mRNA expression levels were determined by RT-PCR in non-infarcted myocardium. Results: Atorvastatin combined with coenzyme Q10 can significantly increase ±dp/dtmax and SOD activity, and reduce left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), cardiac hypertrophy index, serum MDA levels and UCP2 mRNA expression levels (P<;0.05~0.001), but had no significant effect on heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (P>;0.05). Conclusion: Atorvastatin combined with coenzyme Q10 can down-regulate UCP2 mRNA expression levels in myocardial cells for rats with heart failure after myocardial infarction and improve energy metabolism in ventricular remodeling of heart failure via anti-oxidation effects.