Sirt3 Mediates the Cardioprotective Effect of Therapeutic Hypothermia after Cardiac Arrest and Resuscitation by Restoring Autophagic Flux via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR Pathway

Abstract Background Postresuscitation cardiac dysfunction is a significant contributor to early death following cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) mitigates myocardial dysfunction due to cardiac arrest (CA); however, the underlying mechanism remains unclear. Sirtuin 3 (Sirt3) was found to affect autophagic activity in recent research, motivating us to investigate its role in the cardioprotective effects of TH in the treatment of CA. Methods Sprague–Dawley rats were used to establish an in vivo CA/CPR model and treated with a selective Sirt3 inhibitor or vehicle. Survival rate, myocardial function, autophagic flux, and Sirt3 expression and activity were evaluated. H9C2 cells were subjected to oxygen–glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) injury in vitro . The cells were transfected with Sirt3-siRNA and treated with the autophagy inhibitor chloroquine or the PI3K inhibitor LY294002, and cell viability and autophagic flux were assessed. Results Rats exhibited decreased survival and impaired cardiac function after CA/CPR, which were alleviated by TH. Mechanistically, TH restored Sirt3 expression and autophagic flux which were impaired by CA/CPR. Sirt3 inactivation diminished the capacity of TH to restore autophagic flux and partially abolished the improvements in myocardial function and survival. An in vitro study further showed that TH-induced restoration of disrupted autophagic flux by OGD/R was attenuated by pretreatment with Sirt3-siRNA, and this attenuation was partially rescued by the inhibition of PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling cascades. Conclusions Sirt3 mediates the cardioprotective effect of TH by restoring autophagic flux via the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway. These findings suggest the potential of Sirt3 as a therapeutic target for CA.