El aumento de la expresión del ARNm de la enzima convertidora de angiotensina I homóloga (ECA-2) inducido por atorvastatina se asocia a menor fibrosis e hipertrofia ventricular izquierda en un modelo de cardiomiopatía diabética

Cristian Aguilar; Freddy Ventura; Luis Rodríguez-Delfín

doi:10.17843/rpmesp.2011.282.492

Authors

Cristian Aguilar Departamento de Anatomía Patológica, Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins. Lima, Perú. Médico, Residente de Anatomía Patológica, HNERM.
Freddy Ventura Departamento de Ciencias Básicas, facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Trujillo. Trujillo, Perú. Químico farmacéutico, Magíster en fisiología y Biofísica.
Luis Rodríguez-Delfín Departamento de Anatomía Patológica, Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati Martins. Lima, Perú. Laboratorio de Biología Molecular, Facultad de Biología, Universidad Nacional Pedro Ruiz Gallo. Chiclayo, Perú. Investigación y Diagnóstico en Genética y Biología Molecular “GEN MOL”. Trujillo, Perú. Biólogo, Doctor en Ciencias, área de Genética.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17843/rpmesp.2011.282.492

Keywords:

Cardiomyopathies, Renin-angiotensin system, Reverse transcriptase polymerace chain reaction

Abstract

Objectives. This study has investigated the effect of atorvastatin on the progression of cardiac remodelling and ACE- 2 expression in diabetic myocardium in rats. Materials and Methods. Diabetes was induced in Holtzman rats with an intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. The animals were divided into 3 groups: (1) normal control rats, (2) diabetic rats and (3) diabetic rats treated orally with atorvastatin (50 mg/kg/day). After eight weeks of treatment, the hearts were removed for morphometric studies, collagen content assay and genetic expressions of ACE and ACE2 mRNA. Results. Myocardial hypertrophy index and collagen deposition were increased in diabetic rats, but not in the treated-diabetic rats, without producing changes in cholesterol levels. Myocardial ACE mRNA levels were increased while ACE2 mRNA levels were decreased in diabetic rats. Atorvastatin administration attenuated overexpression of ACE mRNA and overexpression of ACE-2 mRNA in diabetic rats. Conclusions. Our results indicate that atorvastatin, independently of its cholesterol-lowering capacity, lowers the ACE/ACE2 ratio to normal values and attenuates the development of adverse remodeling in the diabetic heart.