Abstract: Objective To investigate the effects of atorvastatin on myocardial apoptosis and mitofusin 2(Mfn2) expression after acute myocardial infartion(MI) in rats. Methods A total of 48 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham-operated group, myocardial infartion(MI) group, statin group 1 and group 2. The rats in the two statin groups were given atorvastatin 10 mg?kg-1 or 40 mg?kg-1 daily, respectively. The rats in the MI and statin groups were induced acute myocardial infartion. 24 hours after operation, the MI areas of rat hearts were harvested, and myocardial apoptosis was assessed by in situ terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase(TdT)-dUTP nick-end labeling(TUNEL staining). Immunohistochemistry staining and western blotting were performed to measure the expression of Mfn 2 and phosphorylated Akt(p-Akt) . Results On the 24 hours after operation, compared with those of the sham group, the myocardial apoptosis and Mfn2 protein expression of the MI groups remarkably increased(p＜0.01). Compared with those of the MI group, myocardial apoptosis and Mfn2 protein expression of statin groups significantly decreased with a slightly dose-dependent manner(p＜0.05). Conclusion Atorvastatin attenuates myocardium apoptosis after acute myocardial infarction in rats, which may relate to down-regulated expression of mitofusin 2.

Key words: Atorvastatin, Myocardial Infarction, Apoptosis, Mitofusin 2