Olmesartan medoxomil reverses left ventricle hypertrophy and reduces inflammatory cytokine IL-6 in the renovascular hypertensive rats.

AIM

To investigate the effects of Olmesartan Medoxomil (OM) on left ventricle hypertrophy (LVH) and inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-10 levels in renovascular hypertensive rats.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Qualified 30 male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: sham-operation group (SO, n=10), model control group (MC, n=10), and Olmesartan Medoxomil group (OM, n=10). Renovascular hypertension was induced by ligating the abdominal aorta and 10 mg/kg OM was administered daily to the OM group by gastric perfusion for 7 weeks. The ratio of left ventricle mass to body weight (LVM/BW) was calculated as the index of cardiac hypertrophy, and the inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-10 in serum and cardiac tissue were measured by ELISA assays.

RESULTS

The LVM/BW ratios in the MC group were about 50% higher than that in the SO group (p < 0.001). The OM group showed much reduced LVM/BW ratios compared with the MC group (p < 0.001) and were similar to that in the SO group (p > 0.05), indicating a complete reversal of the left ventricular hypertrophy caused by aorta ligation. The IL-6 and IL-10 levels in both the serum and cardiac tissue increased following aorta ligation (MC vs. SO, p < 0.001). While OM treatment significantly reduced IL-6 levels in the aorta-ligated rats (OM vs. MC, p < 0.001), IL-10 levels were not affected (OM vs. MC, p > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

OM completely reversed left ventricle hypertrophy and reduced IL-6 levels in renovascular hypertensive rats. Its effect on IL-10 levels in this animal model was not statistically significant.