Effect of fluvastatin on left ventricular remodeling and caspase-3 expression after myocardial infarction in rats

AIM: To observe the effect of fluvastatin (FV) on left ventricular remodeling and expression of caspase-3 after myocardial infarction (MI) in rats. METHODS: Rats were divided into 4 groups: group Ⅰ (sham), group Ⅱ (sham+FV), group Ⅲ (MI) and group Ⅳ (MI+FV). group Ⅱ and Ⅳ were treated with FV (10 mg·kg^-1·d^-1) for 4 weeks. The left ventricular structure, echocardiography and hydroxyproline were observed. The expression of caspase-3 was measured by immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. RESULTS: Compared with MI group, there was a improvement of ultrastructure and index of left ventricular remodeling, and decrease in hydroxyproline in MI+FV group (all P<0.05). The number of caspase-3 positive cells also decreased in MI+FV group, and RT-PCR showed the level of caspase-3 mRNA expression was lower than that in MI group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Fluvastatin improves left ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction, decreases the expression of caspase-3 and inhibits apoptosis.