Fumihiro Ohara, Toshiko Sugimoto, Nobuhiro Yamamoto, Kazumi Ohkubo, Tohru
Ozaki, Kazuhiro Maeda, Jiro Seki and Toshio Goto
Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Medicinal Biology Research Laboratories,
Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.,1 - 6, 2-chome, Kashima, Yodogawa-ku,
Osaka 532 - 8514, Japan
Abstract: We have studied the effects of FR168888 (5-hydroxymethyl-3-(pyrrol-1-yl)benzoylguanidine
methanesulfonate), a new Na+/H+ exchange inhibitor,
on ischemia and reperfusion-induced arrhythmia and myocardial infarction
in anesthetized rats and compared them with those of other cardioprotective
compounds. FR168888 had a potent inhibitory effect on Na+/H+
exchange of rat lymphocytes acidified with Na+-propionate with
a Ki value of 6.4 nM. Pretreatment with FR168888 (0.032 - 0.32
mg/kg, i.v.) reduced or completely abolished the ventricular fibrillation
(VF) induced by reperfusion after 5 min of regional ischemia, while lidocaine,
a class I antiarrhythmic agent, showed less effect against VF as compared
with FR168888. The size of myocardial infarction induced by 60-min ischemia
and 60-min reperfusion was attenuated by FR168888 dose-dependently (1.0
- 10 mg/kg, i.v.), and ventricular tachycardia and VF were significantly
reduced during the ischemic period. In contrast, propranolol and diltiazem
did not show such protective effects on myocardial infarct size. In addition,
FR168888 did not change hemodynamic parameters in rats. These results indicate
that FR168888 has a strong inhibitory effect on Na+/H+
exchange and that treatment with FR168888 can protect the heart from arrhythmia
and myocardial cell death in ischemic and reperfused situations.
Keywords: Na+/H+ exchange, Ischemia and reperfusion,
Arrhythmia, Myocardial infarction, FR168888