Osthole attenuates myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats by inhibiting apoptosis and inflammation

This study was performed to evaluate the cardioprotective effects of osthole (OST) in a rat model of myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury (MI/RI) and the underlying mechanism. We exposed rat hearts to left anterior descending coronary artery ligation for 30 min followed by 24 h of reperfusion. The results showed that pretreatment with OST ameliorated MI/RI as evidenced by histopathological examination. Moreover, the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end-labeling assay demonstrated that OST suppressed myocardial apoptosis, which may be related to an increase in the Bcl-2/Bax ratio and inhibition of caspase-3 and caspase-9 activation. Furthermore, we determined that OST ameliorated impaired mitochondrial morphology and the oxidation system; OST also attenuated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukins 6 and 1 beta. In conclusion, OST exerted a strong favorable cardioprotective effect on MI/RI, possibly by suppressing the inflammatory response and inhibiting cell apoptosis.