Background
Calpain over-expression is implicated in aberrant angiogenesis. We hypothesized that calpain inhibition (CI, MDL28170) would improve collateral perfusion in a swine model with hypercholesterolemia and chronic myocardial ischemia.
Methods and Results
Yorkshire swine fed a high cholesterol diet for 4 weeks underwent surgical placement of an ameroid constrictor to their left circumflex coronary artery. Three weeks later, animals received either: no drug, high cholesterol control group (HCC; n= 8); low dose CI (0.12 mg/kg; LCI, n= 9); or high dose CI (0.25 mg/kg; HCI, n= 8). The heart was harvested after 5 weeks. There was a trend toward increased right to left collateral vessels on angiography with HCI. Myocardial perfusion in ischemic myocardium significantly improved with HCI at rest and with demand pacing (p = 0.016 and 0.011). Endothelium-dependent microvessel relaxation was significantly improved with LCI (p = 0.001). There was a significant increase in capillary density, with LCI and HCI (p= 0.01 and 0.01), and arteriolar density with LCI (p= 0.001). CI significantly increased several proangiogenic proteins including VEGF (p= 0.02), VEGFR1 (p= 0.003), VEGFR2 (p= 0.003) and talin, a microvascular structural protein (p= 0.0002). There was a slight increase in proteins implicated in endothelial-dependent (NO Mediated) relaxation including ERK, p-ERK and iNOS with CI.
Conclusions
In the setting of hypercholesterolemia, CI improved perfusion, with a trend toward increased collateralization on angiography and increased capillary and arteriolar densities in ischemic myocardium. CI also improved endothelium-dependent microvessel relaxation and increased expression of proteins implicated in angiogenesis and vasodilatation.
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