Protective effect of propolis on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in males and ovariectomized females but not in intact females

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of propolis, which may have estrogenic effects, on myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (mI/R) injury not only in male rats but also in intact and ovariectomized (ovx) female rats. Six groups were formed: untreated males (n = 8), treated males (n = 9), untreated intact females (n = 9), treated intact females (n = 10), untreated ovx females (n = 10), and treated ovx females (n = 8).An alcoholic extract of a single dose of propolis (200 mg/kg) was administered orally daily for 14 days. Thirty minutes of ischemia and 120 min of reperfusion were performed. Blood pressure, heart rate, arrhythmias (ventricular premature contraction[VPC], ventricular tachycardia [VT], ventricular fibrillation [VF]), and myocardial infarct size were evaluated. Total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and 17 beta-estradiol (E2) were measured. The untreated females showed more resistance to mI/R injury than the untreated males, as evidenced by lower duration, incidence, and score of arrhythmias, and smaller infarct size (p < .05). After ovx, this resistance disappeared. Propolis improved these values in treated males and treated ovx females (p < .05). Propolis increased TAS in treated males and decreased TOS in treated ovx females as well as elevated SOD in all treated groups (p < .05). Propolis decreased E2 level in treated intact females; however, it increased E2 level in treated ovx females (p < .05). The results revealed that propolis could protect the heart against mI/R injury in males and ovx females. Practical applicationsIt is known that the female heart has an increased sensitivity to myocardial ischemia/ reperfusion (mI/R) injury due to estrogen deficiency and/or estrogen deprivation following menopause or surgical removal of the ovaries. Propolis has the potential to mimic estrogen under physiological and pathophysiological conditions, as well as its antioxidant property. The results indicated that propolis decreased myocardial infarct size, arrhythmia score, arrhythmia duration, and incidence in ovariectomized female rats and male rats. In addition, the present results demonstrated that an alcoholic

Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells Improve Premature Ovarian Failure through Cell Apoptosis of miR-100-5p/NOX4/NLRP3

“…MicroRNA (miRNA) is a kind of short chain, nonencoding, single-strand small molecule RNA with posttranscriptional regulation function discovered in recent years [ 11 ]. The research shows that miRNA is involved in the maturation and follicular development of mouse oocytes [ 12 ].…”

Effect of long-term inorganic nitrate administration on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in ovariectomized rats

“…In this study, IR + hearts from OVX rats showed higher recovery of CFI and lower infarct size following nitrate administration. Reduced CFI and increased infarct size in rats following 2 (Kaya and Agan, 2022), 4 (Ibañez et al, 2022), 5 (Ibañez et al, 2022), 6 (Garvin et al, 2017, 12 (Kumar et al, 2021), and 44 weeks of ovariectomy have previously been documented. Our findings align with previous studies (summarized in Table 4) showing reduced infarct size and improved post-ischemic cardiac function in healthy mice following short-term nitrate administration (7 days) at doses of Levels of infarct size in the ischemia-exposed hearts from OVX and OVX + N rats.…”

“…Reduced tolerance against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury and increased infarct size by 45%–75% has been reported in ovariectomized (OVX) rats following 2 ( Kaya and Agan, 2022 ), 6 ( Garvin et al, 2017 ), 12 ( Kumar et al, 2021 ), and 44 ( Yousefzadeh and Jeddi, 2023 ) weeks after ovariectomy. We previously reported that these effects of OVX in heart tissue are at least in part associated with reduced nitric oxide (NO) levels, reduced endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) expression, and increased inducible NOS (iNOS) expression ( Yousefzadeh and Jeddi, 2023 ).…”