Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Phycocyanin relieves myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats by inhibiting oxidative stress

Hai Xu, Xiwen Zhang, Yafei Shi, Kun Yu, Yicheng Jiang

Department of Cardiology, The Affiliated Huai’an No. 1 People’s Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Huai'an, China;

For correspondence:- Yicheng Jiang Email: jiangyicheng120@163.com Tel:+8651780872622

Accepted: 25 August 2022 Published: 30 September 2022

Citation: Xu H, Zhang X, Shi Y, Yu K, Jiang Y. Phycocyanin relieves myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats by inhibiting oxidative stress. Trop J Pharm Res 2022; 21(9):1923-1930 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v21i9.16

© 2022 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effect of phycocyanin on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, and the possible mechanisms involved.

Methods: Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into Sham group (only threading without ligation), IRI group (myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury group) and phycocyanin group (phycocyanin pretreatment + myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury group). The heart was harvested and cardiomyocytes were isolated. Colorimetry was used to determine the contents of cardiomyocyte serum creatine phospho-MB (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and malondialdehyde (MDA), and the activities of total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), catalase (CAT), glutathione (GSH), total superoxide dismutase (SOD) and other related oxidative stress indicators. Furthermore, apoptosis was evaluated using TUNEL staining. Protein levels of cardiac factor E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), human NADPH dehydrogenase 1 (NQO1) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) were evaluated by Western blot and immunohistochemistry.

Results: Compared with the myocardial IRI group, the contents of CK-MB, LDH, MAD and ROS in the treated group were significantly decreased (p < 0.05), but the activities of SOD, GSH, SOD, CAT, and T-AOC in the myocardial tissues were significantly enhanced (p < 0.05). Moreover, the pathological changes in myocardial tissue were significantly reduced. In addition, the expression levels of Nrf2, HO-1 and NQO-1 were significantly up-regulated after phycocyanin pretreatment, while expression of NF-κB was significantly down-regulated (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: Phycocyanin improves myocardial anti-oxidative stress via activation of Nrf2 signaling pathway, and also protects rats from myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury by reducing inflammatory response via inhibition of NF-κB signaling pathway.

Keywords: Phycocyanin, Nrf2 signaling pathway, NF-kB signaling pathway, Ischemia-reperfusion injury, Myocardial injury