Oxidative stress plays a critical role in cardiac injury during
ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). Despite a potent cardioprotective activity of
KR-33889, a novel
poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor, its underlying mechanism remains unresolved. This study was designed to investigate the protective effects of
KR-33889 against oxidative stress-induced apoptosis in rat cardiomyocytes H9c2 cells and isolated rat hearts. H2O2 caused severe injury to H9c2 cells, mainly due to apoptosis, as revealed by TUNEL assay. However,
KR-33889 pretreatment significantly attenuated H2O2-induced apoptosis of H9c2 cells, which was accompanied by decrease in expression of both cleaved
caspase-3 and Bax and increase in Bcl-2 expression and the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax.
KR-33889 also significantly enhanced the expression of
anti-oxidant enzymes including
heme oxygenase-1,
Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD),
Mn-SOD, and
catalase, thereby inhibiting production of intracellular ROS. Furthermore,
KR-33889 reversed H2O2-induced decrease in phosphorylation of Akt, GSK-3β, ERK1/2,
p38 MAPK, and SAPK/JNK during most H2O2 exposure time. In globally ischemic rat hearts,
KR-33889 inhibited both I/R-induced decrease in cardiac contractility and apoptosis by increasing Bcl-2, decreasing both cleaved
caspase-3 and Bax expression, and enhancing expression of
anti-oxidant enzymes. Taken together, these results suggest that
KR-33889 may have therapeutic potential to prevent I/R-induced
heart injury in
ischemic heart diseases mainly by reducing oxidative stress-mediated myocardial apoptosis.