Journal Article

Kanglexin, a novel anthraquinone compound, protects against myocardial ischemic injury in mice by suppressing NLRP3 and pyroptosis

Bian, Yu, Du, Wei-jie, Pang, Ping, Wang, Ning, Wang, Jin-hui, Xiao, Wei, Hu, Xue-ling, Yu, Shu-ting, Liu, Yi-ning, Li, Xin, Yang, Bao-feng

2020

Overview

Pyroptosis is a form of inflammatory cell death that could be driven by the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation following myocardial infarction (MI). Emerging evidence suggests the therapeutic potential for ameliorating MI-induced myocardial damages by targeting NLRP3 and pyroptosis. In this study, we investigated the myocardial protection effect of a novel anthraquinone compound (4,5-dihydroxy-7-methyl-9,10-anthraquinone-2-ethyl succinate) named Kanglexin (KLX) in vivo and in vitro. Male C57BL/6 mice were pre-treated either with KLX (20, 40 mg· kg −1 per day, intragastric gavage) or vehicle for 7 consecutive days prior to ligation of coronary artery to induce permanent MI. KLX administration dose-dependently reduced myocardial infarct size and lactate dehydrogenase release and improved cardiac function as compared to vehicle-treated mice 24 h after MI. We found that MI triggered NLRP3 inflammasome activation leading to conversion of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and IL-18 into their active mature forms in the heart, which could expand the infarct size and drive cardiac dysfunction. We also showed that MI induced pyroptosis, as evidenced by increased DNA fragmentation, mitochondrial swelling, and cell membrane rupture, as well as increased levels of pyroptosis-related proteins, including gasdermin D, N-terminal GSDMD, and cleaved caspase-1. All these detrimental alterations were prevented by KLX. In hypoxia- or lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-treated neonatal mouse ventricular cardiomyocytes, we showed that KLX (10 μM) decreased the elevated levels of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling- and propidium iodide-positive cells, and pyroptosis-related proteins. We conclude that KLX prevents MI-induced cardiac damages and cardiac dysfunction at least partly through attenuating NLRP3 and subsequent cardiomyocyte pyroptosis, and it is worthy of more rigorous investigations for its potential for alleviating ischemic heart disease.

• Publisher: Springer Singapore,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: Animals / Anthraquinone / Anthraquinones - administration & dosage / Anthraquinones - chemistry / Anthraquinones - pharmacology / Apoptosis / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Biomedicine / Cardiac function / Cardiomyocytes / Caspase-1 / Cell death / Cell membranes / Coronary artery / Coronary artery disease / Coronary vessels / Cytokines / Disease Models, Animal / DNA fragmentation / DNA nucleotidylexotransferase / Dose-Response Relationship, Drug / Heart attacks / Heart diseases / Hypoxia / IL-1β / Immunology / Inflammasomes / Inflammation / Interleukin 18 / Internal Medicine / Ischemia / L-Lactate dehydrogenase / Laboratory animals / Lactic acid / Lipopolysaccharides / Male / Medical Microbiology / Mice / Mice, Inbred C57BL / Mitochondrial DNA / Molecular Structure / Myocardial infarction / Myocardial Reperfusion Injury - drug therapy / Myocardial Reperfusion Injury - metabolism / Myocardial Reperfusion Injury - pathology / Neonates / NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein - antagonists & inhibitors / NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein - metabolism / Oligomerization / Pharmacology/Toxicology / Propidium iodide / Protective Agents - administration & dosage / Protective Agents - chemistry / Protective Agents - pharmacology / Pyrin protein / Pyroptosis / Pyroptosis - drug effects / Signal Transduction - drug effects / Structure-Activity Relationship / Thoracic surgery / Vaccine / Veins & arteries / Ventricle