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Erythropoietin protects from reperfusion-induced myocardial injury by enhancing coronary endothelial nitric oxide production

^a Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland
^b Department of Clinical Research, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland
^c Institute for Veterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, Switzerland
^d Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Received 19 September 2008; received in revised form 18 December 2008; accepted 22 December 2008.

^_* Corresponding author. Address: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Canton Hospital Lucerne, 6000 Lucerne 16, Switzerland. Tel.: +41 41 205 45 02; fax: +41 41 205 45 63. (Email: reza.tavakoli{at}ksl.ch).

Objective: Cardioprotective properties of recombinant human Erythropoietin (rhEpo) have been shown in in vivo regional or ex vivo global models of ischemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury. The aim of this study was to characterize the cardioprotective potential of rhEPO in an in vivo experimental model of global I/R approximating the clinical cardiac surgical setting and to gain insights into the myocardial binding sites of rhEpo and the mechanism involved in its cardioprotective effect. Methods: Hearts of donor Lewis rats were arrested with cold crystalloid cardioplegia and after 45 min of cold global ischemia grafted heterotopically into the abdomen of recipient Lewis rats. Recipients were randomly assigned to control non-treated or Epo-treated group receiving 5000 U/kg of rhEpo intravenously 20 min prior to reperfusion. At 5 time points 5–1440 min after reperfusion, the recipients (n = 6–8 at each point) were sacrificed, blood and native and grafted hearts harvested for subsequent analysis. Results: Treatment with rhEpo resulted in a significant reduction in myocardial I/R injury (plasma troponin T) in correlation with preservation of the myocardial redox state (reduced glutathione). The extent of apoptosis (activity of caspase 3 and caspase 9, TUNEL test) in our model was very modest and not significantly affected by rhEpo. Immunostaining of the heart tissue with anti-Epo antibodies showed an exclusive binding of rhEpo to the coronary endothelium with no binding of rhEpo to cardiomyocytes. Administration of rhEpo resulted in a significant increase in nitric oxide (NO) production assessed by plasma nitrite levels. Immunostaining of heart tissue with anti-phospho-eNOS antibodies showed that after binding to the coronary endothelium, rhEpo increased the phosphorylation and thus activation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in coronary vessels. There was no activation of eNOS in cardiomyocytes. Conclusions: Intravenous administration of rhEpo protects the heart against cold global I/R. Apoptosis does not seem to play a major role in the process of tissue injury in this model. After binding to the coronary endothelium, rhEpo enhances NO production by phosphorylation and thus activation of eNOS in coronary vessels. Our results suggest that cardioprotective properties of rhEpo are at least partially mediated by NO released by the coronary endothelium.

Key Words: Erythropoietin • Myocardial ischemia–reperfusion injury