Browsing by Subject "Dahl/Rapp rats"

Heart failure is a complex and severe syndrome caused by different kinds of cardiovascular diseases. Pathophysiology of heart failure involves, for example, activation of sympathetic nervous system and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), insufficiently contracting left ventricle, cardiac remodeling, myocyte mishandling of Ca2+ and myocyte loss owing to apoptosis. Despite advances in the management of patients with heart failure, the mortality of patients with heart failure remains high. The use of classic inotropic agents is hampered by poor prognosis due to increase in [Ca2+]i, induction of arrhytmias and increase in the myocardial oxygen consumption. Levosimendan is an inotropic agent that has positive inotropic and anti-stunning effects mediated by the calcium sensitization of the contractile proteins and vasodilatory, anti-ischemic and cardioprotective effects mediated by opening of sarcolemmal and mitochondrial KATP channels. Levosimendan also inhibits cardiac PDE3 predominately at higher concentrations. Levosimendan is currently used only as 24-hour infusion to improve symptoms of acute decompensated heart failure. However, other promising indications have also been discovered. For example, chronic use of oral levosimendan improves survival and protects cardiovascular system in vivo. In the present study, the effects of oral levosimendan, valsartan and their combination use on survival, blood pressure and cardiac remodeling were examined in Dahl/Rapp rats on a high salt diet (8 %). Levosimendan improved the survival in Dahl/Rapp rats on a high-salt diet, although not statistically significantly when compared to control group. The drug combination prevented completely salt-induced cardiovascular mortality. The combination therapy also produced a blood pressure-dependent protection against hypertension-induced hypertrophy measured by heart weight-to-body weight ratio (HW/BW) and echocardiographic parameters. Interestingly, the combination use of levosimendan and valsartan had an additive antihypertensive effect in Dahl/Rapp rats. Levosimendan slightly improved systolic function. However, echocardiography revealed increased IVRT in Dahl/Rapp control rats when compared to control group on low salt diet (0,2 %) indicating impaired diastolic relaxation in Dahl/Rapp rats. In the present study, levosimendan, alone and in combination with valsartan, also corrected hypertension-induced diastolic dysfunction.