Effect of Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor on the Myocardial Expression of Hypoxia-inducible Factor-1α and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Following Acute Myocardial Infarction

Objective: To investigate the effect of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on myocardial expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in rats. Methods: Eighty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into sham operation (n = 20), AMI control (n = 20), bFGF50 (intravenous bFGF 50 mu g/kg/d, n = 20) and bFGF200 (intravenous bFGF 200 mu g/kg/d, n = 20) groups. The left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was measured by echocardiography. The expression of HIF-1 alpha mRNA and VEGF mRNA in the ischaemic tissues was analysed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Results: The LVEF in the bFGF50 and bFGF200 group was higher than in the AMI control group (p <0.05) seven and 14 days after the treatment. There was no difference in HIF-1 alpha mRNA expression between the bFGF50 and AMI control group (p > 0.05). However, the HIF-1 alpha mRNA expression in the bFGF200 group was higher than in the AMI control group seven days (1.13 +/- 0.18 vs 0.90 +/- 0.14, p <0.01) and 14 days (1.31 +/- 0.18 vs 0.93 +/- 0.09, p <0.01) after the treatment. The VEGF mRNA expression in the bFGF200 group was also higher than in the AMI control group seven days (1.10 +/- 0.17 vs 0.86 +/- 0.14, p <0.01) and 14 days after the AMI (1.28 +/- 0.19 vs 0.89 +/- 0.14, p <0.01). Conclusions: bFGF therapy was associated with an improvement in left ventricular function and an increase in myocardial expression of HIF-1 alpha mRNA and VEGF mRNA following AMI. bFGF may exert its cardioprotective effect through upregulating HIF-1 alpha mRNA and VEGF mRNA in the ischaemic myocardium. (C) 2013 Australian and New Zealand Society of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgeons (ANZSCTS) and the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand (CSANZ). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.