Mehmet Gürbüzel1, Ilyas Sayar2, Murat Cankaya3, Ahmet Gürbüzel4, Levent Demirtas5, Eftal Murat Bakirci6, Ilyas Capoglu5. 1. Department of Medical Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Erzincan University, Erzincan, Turkey. Electronic address: mehmetgurbuzel@hotmail.com. 2. Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Erzincan University, Erzincan, Turkey. 3. Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Erzincan University, Erzincan, Turkey. 4. Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. 5. Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Erzincan University, Erzincan, Turkey. 6. Department of Cardiology, Faculty of Medicine, Erzincan University, Erzincan, Turkey.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In this study, the effects of levosimendan used in the treatment of acute congestive heart failure upon pulmonary fibrosis in rats induced with bleomycin (BL) were analyzed. METHODS: A total of 33 male Sprague-Dawley type rats were categorized into five groups randomly. About 2.5U/kg BL was intratracheally administered to the rats in the BL, BL+L1, BL+L2, and BL+L3 groups, and 0.9% saline was intratracheally administered at the same rate to the control group. 0.3, 1, and 3mg/kg levosimendan was intraperitoneally administered to the BL+L1, BL+L2, and BL+L3 groups, respectively. Blood and tissue samples were taken from the rats euthanized to determine the changes in erythrocyte enzyme activities and to conduct histopathological evaluations after 14 days. With values between 0 and 3, histopathological scoring damage was assessed by the presence of inflammation and fibrosis in a semiquantitative manner. RESULTS: Compared with those in the C group, glutathione reductase (GR) and Catalase (CAT) enzymes decreased in the BL group; compared with that in the BL group, GR increased in the BL+L1 and BL+L3 groups, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) increased in the BL+L3 group, and CAT increased in the BL+L2 and BL+L3 groups (p<0.05). In the histopathological evaluation, fibrosis occurred in all rats in the BL group, and tissue damage was noticed to be generally less in the BL+L1, BL+L2, and BL+L3 groups (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained from biochemical and histopathological evaluations indicate that levosimendan had an anti-fibrotic effect without a dose-dependent response on pulmonary fibrosis.
BACKGROUND: In this study, the effects of levosimendan used in the treatment of acute congestive heart failure upon pulmonary fibrosis in rats induced with bleomycin (BL) were analyzed. METHODS: A total of 33 male Sprague-Dawley type rats were categorized into five groups randomly. About 2.5U/kg BL was intratracheally administered to the rats in the BL, BL+L1, BL+L2, and BL+L3 groups, and 0.9% saline was intratracheally administered at the same rate to the control group. 0.3, 1, and 3mg/kg levosimendan was intraperitoneally administered to the BL+L1, BL+L2, and BL+L3 groups, respectively. Blood and tissue samples were taken from the rats euthanized to determine the changes in erythrocyte enzyme activities and to conduct histopathological evaluations after 14 days. With values between 0 and 3, histopathological scoring damage was assessed by the presence of inflammation and fibrosis in a semiquantitative manner. RESULTS: Compared with those in the C group, glutathione reductase (GR) and Catalase (CAT) enzymes decreased in the BL group; compared with that in the BL group, GR increased in the BL+L1 and BL+L3 groups, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGD) increased in the BL+L3 group, and CAT increased in the BL+L2 and BL+L3 groups (p<0.05). In the histopathological evaluation, fibrosis occurred in all rats in the BL group, and tissue damage was noticed to be generally less in the BL+L1, BL+L2, and BL+L3 groups (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained from biochemical and histopathological evaluations indicate that levosimendan had an anti-fibrotic effect without a dose-dependent response on pulmonary fibrosis.