Edaravone Improves Septic Cardiac Function by Inducing an HIF-1α/HO-1 Pathway

Figure 4

Effect of the HIF-1α antagonist on cardiomyocyte apoptosis and cardiac function in edaravone-pretreated septic rats. Edaravone (EDA) at high (H) dose was injected intravenously 10 minutes before CLP, while the HIF-1α antagonist, ME, was injected intraperitoneally after CLP. Cardiomyocyte apoptosis was assessed by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL). (a and b) TUNEL-positive cells were stained brown and counted. Black arrows means TUNEL positive cell. Cytokines IL-6 (c), TNF-α (d), and IL-1β (e) were detected by an ELISA method. versus Sham. versus CLP. versus CLP + H-EDA. Cardiac function was demonstrated in terms of (f) left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), (g) left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP), (h) maximal slope of left ventricular systolic pressure increment (+dP/dt_max), and (i) maximal slope of left ventricular diastolic pressure decrement (−dP/dt_max). versus CLP + H-EDA. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. per group.

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

(f)

(g)

(h)

(i)