Heart Care Info - Heart Disease Prevention & Treatment

Inhibition of PKCα/β With Ruboxistaurin Antagonizes Heart Failure in Pigs After Myocardial Infarction Injury

D Ladage, L Tilemann, K Ishikawa... - Circulation ..., 2011 - Am Heart Assoc Rationale: Protein kinase Cα (PKCα) activity and protein level are induced during cardiac disease where it controls myocardial contractility and propensity to heart failure in mice and rats. For example, mice lacking the gene for PKCα have enhanced cardiac contractility and ...

Methods and Results: We demonstrate that ruboxistaurin administration to a pig model of myocardial infarction–induced heart failure was protective. Twenty-kilogram pigs underwent left anterior descending artery occlusion resulting in myocardial infarctions and were then divided into vehicle or ruboxistaurin feed groups, after which they were monitored monthly for the next 3 months. Ruboxistaurin administered pigs showed significantly better recovery of myocardial contractility 3 months after infarction injury, greater ejection fraction, and greater cardiac output compared with vehicle-treated pigs.