Aliskiren ameliorates sympathetic nerve sprouting and suppresses the inducibility of ventricular tachyarrhythmia in postinfarcted rat heart

Background Aliskiren is an oral renin inhibitor, which inhibits the first rate limiting step in the renin angiotensin aldosterone system. In this study, sympathetic nerve sprouting and the inducibility of ventricular fibrillation after aliskiren treatment in myocardial infarction were investigated. Methods Male Sprague Dawley rats after coronary artery ligation were randomly allocated to four groups: angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor enalapril, angiotensin receptor blocker valsartan, β adrenergic receptor blocker carvedilol and rennin inhibitor aliskiren treatment for six weeks. Electrophysiological study, histological examination and Western blotting were performed. Results The plasma norepinephrine level and sympathetic nerve innervation significantly increased in treated infarcted rats compared to untreated rats. Aliskiren treatment reduced the sympathetic nerve innervations after myocardial infarction. There is no significant difference in sympathetic nerve innervations after myocardial infarction among the enalapril, valsartan, carvediloand or aliskiren treated groups. Programmed electrical stimulation study showed that inducible ventricular arrhythmia was reduced, ventricular fibrillation threshold was increased and ventricular effective refractory period was prolonged in enalapril, valsartan, carvedilol and aliskiren treated infarcted rats compared to untreated infarcted rats. Cardiomyocytic apoptosis in infarcted region was significantly decreased in enalapril, valsartan, carvedilol and aliskiren treated infarcted rats. Conclusions Aliskiren ameliorated cardiomyocytic apoptosis, attenuated the sympathetic nerve innervations and reduced the vulnerability of ventricular arrhythmias after myocardial infarction. Enalapril, valsartan and carvedilol have similar effects as aliskiren on cardiomyocytic apoptosis, sympathetic nerve innervations and vulnerability of ventricular arrhythmias after myocardial infarction.