Urotensin II protects ischemic reperfusion injury of hearts through ROS and antioxidant pathway

Urotensin II (UII) is a vasoactive peptide which is bound to a G protein-coupled receptor. UII and its receptor are upregulated in ischemic and chronic hypoxic myocardium, but the effect of UII on ischemic reperfusion (I/R) injury is still controversial. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether UII protects heart function against I/R injury. Global ischemia was performed using isolated perfused Langendorff hearts of Sprague-Dawley rats. Hearts were perfused with Krebs-Henseleit buffer for 20 min pre-ischemic period followed by a 20 min global ischemia and 50 min reperfusion. Pretreatment with UII (10 nM) for 10 min increased recovery percentage of the post-ischemic left ventricular developed pressure and ±dp/dt, and decreased post-ischemic left ventricular end-diastolic pressure as compared with I/R group. UII decreased infarct size and an increased lactate dehydrogenase level during reperfusion. Cardioprotective effects of UII were attenuated by pretreatment with UII receptor antagonist. The hydrogen peroxide activity was increased in UII-treated heart before ischemia. The Mn-SOD, catalase, heme oxygenase-1 and Bcl-2 levels were increased, and the Bax and caspase-9 levels were decreased in UII-treated hearts. These results suggest that UII has cardioprotective effects against I/R injury partly through activating antioxidant enzymes and reactive oxygen species.