Effects of tamoxifen on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury model in ovariectomized rats

The purpose of this study is to examine the antiarrhythmic and antioxidant effects of tamoxifen, one of the selective estrogen modulators, in ovariectomized rats subjected to myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. A month after ovariectomy, rats were divided into four groups: (I) ovariectomized controls without any treatment, (II) ovariectomized rats treated with vehicle dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), (III)-(IV) ovariectomized rats treated with tamoxifen 1 or 10 mg/kg,sc daily for 14 days. To produce arrhythmia, the left main coronary artery was occluded for 7 min, followed by 7 min of reperfusion. The blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), electrocardiography (ECG) was recorded before and during the ischemia-reperfusion period. The blood levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), creatine kinase (CK), glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione reductase (GR), and catalase (CAT) were measured after the rats were killed. Tamoxifen reduced the incidence of ventricular tachycardia (VT) on ischemia and reperfusion as well as the incidence and duration of reversible ventricular fibrillation (VF) on reperfusion. I/R injury caused a significant fall in GSH, GSH-Px as well as an increase in MDA and CK levels in the control group when compared to tamoxifen treated groups. The changes in levels of CAT and GR were however, not significant. In conclusion, our findings suggest that tamoxifen has cardioprotective effects against I/R injury in rats, likely its antioxidant properties.