Combination of Atorvastatin- Endurance Training Has Positive Effect on Apoptosis and Protein Expression of SDF-1α/CXCR4 Axis after Myocardial Infarction in Rat's Heart Tissue

It is a well-known fact that both statins and exercise have beneficial effects in preventing cardiovascular disease; however, no information is available about their combinatorial effect on the cardiac cell apoptosis and protein expression of SDF-1α/CXCR4 after myocardial infarction (MI). This study aimed to evaluate the combined effect of endurance training and atorvastatin on the apoptosis and protein expression of SDF-1α/CXCR4 in the cardiac tissue of rats following MI.
In total, 30 rats (8–10 weeks old, weighing 220–240 g) were randomly divided into five groups. Myocardial infarction was induced by subcutaneous injection of isoprenaline (150 mg/kg) in 2 consecutive days. Drug and training intervention was initiated 2 days after infarction and was continued for 4 weeks. To assess apoptotis and protein expression of SDF-1α/CXCR4 axis, Tunnel and IHC staining were performed, respectively.
The combination of endurance exercise and atorvastatin significantly reduced the number of apoptotic cells and increased the protein expression of SDF-1α compared with the other groups (P Results of this study revealed that the combined effects of training and atorvastatin are more efficient in reducing the apoptosis and upregulation of SDF-1α/CXCR4 than exercise or atorvastatin alone.