Article Text
Abstract
Aims Inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of myocardial infarction (MI). Whether MI induces atrial inflammation is unknown however. Here, we analysed atrial inflammation in patients with MI and in rats with experimentally induced MI. The effect of the anti-inflammatory agent C1-esterase inhibitor (C1inh) on atrial inflammation in rats was also analysed.
Methods In the hearts of patients who died at different time points after MI (total n=24, mean age=60), neutrophils (myeloperoxidase-positive cells), lymphocytes (CD45-positive cells) and macrophages (CD68-positive cells) were quantified in the myocardium of the left and right atria and the infarcted left and non-infarcted right ventricles and compared with control patients (n=5, mean age=59). For the left and right atria, inflammatory cells were also quantified in the atrial adipose tissue. MI was induced in 17 rats, of which 10 were subsequently treated with C1inh for 6 days. Forty-two days post-MI, lymphocytes, macrophages and the endothelial inflammation marker Nε-(carboxymethyl)lysine (CML) were analysed in the myocardium of both the atria and ventricles.
Results In all investigated areas of the human hearts increased lymphocytes and macrophages were observed to a varying extent, especially between 6 h and 5 days following MI. Similarly, in rats MI resulted in an increase of inflammatory cells and CML in the atria. C1inh treatment decreased atrial inflammation.
Conclusions MI induces atrial inflammation in patients and in rats. C1inh treatment could counteract this MI-induced atrial inflammation in rats.
- INFLAMMATION
- LEUCOCYTES
- HEART
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Footnotes
Handling editor Cheok Soon Lee
Contributors All authors have made significant contributions to this study, have critically reviewed the manuscript for intellectual content and approve of the submission.
Funding This study was funded by the Netherlands Forensic Institute (grant no 34) and an unrestricted grant from Shire—ViroPharma.
Competing interests None declared.
Ethics approval Medical Ethics Committee of the VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.