Effects of neprilysin-renin inhibition in comparison with neprilysin-angiotensin inhibition on the neurohumoral changes in rats with heart failure

BackgroundThe activation of neurohumoral compensatory mechanisms is a common physiological phenomenon in heart failure in order to make up for a failing heart, which will usually have a deteriorating effect on overall health condition. Many medications, such as neprilysin and angiotensin inhibitors, have recently been introduced to remediate neurohumoral changes. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the sacubitril-aliskiren combination versus the sacubitril-ramipril combination in the treatment of neurohumoral changes in rats with experimentally induced heart failure.MethodThirty Wister rats were randomly assigned into five groups each of six rats, the first group was the control group. Intraperitoneal isoprenaline injections of 5mg/kg/day for 1week were used to induce experimental models of heart failure in rats of the rest of experimental groups. The second group served as a positive control. Rats in the third, fourth, and fifth groups received oral daily dose of sacubitril 30mg/kg/day, sacubitril-aliskiren 30,10mg/kg/day, and sacubitril-ramipril 30/10mg/kg/day respectively, for 2weeks.ResultsInduction of heart failure in rats has significantly increased circulating NT-proBNP (980116.71pg/ml), MMP9 (15.850.57ng/ml), troponin-I (3.090.147ng/ml), CK-MB (31.55 +/- 1.69ng/ml), renin (736 +/- 45.8pg/ml), urea (52.1 +/- 1.57mg/dl), and creatinine (0.92 +/- 0.04mg/dl). Significant decreases in glomerular filtration rate (7.031 +/- 1.6ml/hr./kg), urine flow (0.2761 +/- 0.06ml/h/kg), total solute excretion (0.11 +/- 0.03meq/m), and mean blood pressure (83.5 +/- 2.6mm hg) were seen in rats with heart failure. Rats treated with sacubitril combined with aliskiren or ramipril showed a statistically significant reduction of NT-proBNP, MMP9, troponin serum urea, and serum creatinine. Sacubitril-aliskiren or sacubitril-ramipril administration produced a significant increase in renin plasma level, total solute excretion, urine flow, and glomerular filtration rate.Conclusion Sacubitril in combination with aliskiren or with ramipril effectively reduced plasma cardiac biomarkers, such as CK-MB, MMP9, and NT-proBNP, in rats with heart failure. Both combinations showed significant remediation of renal function through increasing GFR, urine flow, and total solute excretion, as well as reducing plasma level of renin. Net results revealed that the sacubitril-aliskiren combination has similar remediating effects on neurohumoral changes compared to the sacubitril-ramipril combination.