Memantine prevents cardiomyocytes nuclear size reduction in the left ventricle of rats exposed to cold stress


Autoria(s): MENEGHINI, Adriano; FERREIRA, Celso; ABREU, Luiz Carlos de; VALENTI, Vitor E.; FERREIRA, Marcelo; F. FILHO, Celso; MURAD, Neif
Contribuinte(s)

UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO

Data(s)

26/03/2012

26/03/2012

2009

Resumo

OBJECTIVES: Memantine is an N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) glutamate receptor antagonist used to treat Alzheimer's disease. Previous studies have suggested that receptor blockers act as neuroprotective agents; however, no study has specifically investigated the impact that these drugs have on the heart. We sought to evaluate the effects of memantine on nuclear size reduction in cardiac cells exposed to cold stress. METHOD: We used male EPM-Wistar rats (n=40) divided into 4 groups: 1) Matched control (CON); 2) Memantine-treated rats (MEM); 3) Rats undergoing induced hypothermia (IH) and 4) Rats undergoing induced hypothermia that were also treated with memantine (IHM). Animals in the MEM and IHM groups were treated by oral gavage administration of 20 mg/kg/day memantine over an eight-day period. Animals in the IH and IHM groups were submitted to 4 hours of hypothermia in a controlled environment with a temperature of - 8ºC on the last day of the study. RESULTS: The MEM group had the largest cardiomyocyte nuclear size (151 ± 3.5 μm³ vs. CON: 142 ± 2.3 μm³; p<0.05), while the IH group had the smallest mean value of nuclear size. The nuclear size of the IHM group was preserved (125 ± 2.9 μm³) compared to the IH group (108 ± 1.7 μm³; p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Memantine prevented the nuclear size reduction of cardiomyocytes in rats exposed to cold stress.

Identificador

Clinics, v.64, n.9, p.921-926, 2009

1807-5932

http://producao.usp.br/handle/BDPI/13024

10.1590/S1807-59322009000900014

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1807-59322009000900014

http://www.scielo.br/pdf/clin/v64n9/14.pdf

Idioma(s)

eng

Publicador

Faculdade de Medicina / USP

Relação

Clinics

Direitos

openAccess

Copyright Faculdade de Medicina / USP

Palavras-Chave #Memantine #Cardiac myocytes #Cardiotonic agents #Cell nucleus structures #Heart
Tipo

article

original article

publishedVersion