Effects of Nicorandil on Inflammation, Apoptosis and Atherosclerotic Plaque Progression

Effects of Nicorandil on Inflammation, Apoptosis and Atherosclerotic Plaque Progression

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Nicorandil, a balanced vasodilator, is used in the second-line therapy of angina pectoris.In this study, we aimed to illuminate the effects of nicorandil on inflammation, apoptosis, and atherosclerotic plaque progression.Twenty-five LDL-R -/- mice were fed a high-fat diet for 14 weeks.After 6 weeks mice were randomly allocated to treatment with nicorandil (10 mg/kg/day) or tap water.Nicorandil treatment led Lip Cream to a more stable plaque phenotype, displaying an increased thickness of the fibrous cap (p = 0.

014), a significant reduction in cholesterol clefts (p = 0.045), and enhanced smooth muscle cell content (p = 0.009).In endothelial cells nicorandil did not reduce the induction of Hob Cover adhesion molecules or proinflammatory cytokines.In H2O2 challenged endothelial cells, pretreatment with nicorandil significantly reduced the percentage of late apoptotic/necrotic cells (p = 0.

016) and the ratio of apoptotic to living cells (p = 0.036).Atherosclerotic lesions of animals treated with nicorandil exhibited a significantly decreased content of cleaved caspase-3 (p = 0.034), lower numbers of apoptotic nuclei (p = 0.040), and reduced 8-oxogunanine staining (p = 0.

039), demonstrating a stabilizing effect of nicorandil in established atherosclerotic lesions.We suggest that nicorandil has a positive effect on atherosclerotic plaque stabilization by reducing apoptosis.