Protective role of frataxin against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury

Abdullah Al Asmari; Global Summit on Heart Diseases and Therapeutics, October 20-21, 2016 Chicago, USA. Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Exp Cardiolog DOI: 10.4172/2155-9880.C1.051

In this study, we hypothesized that FXN protects cardiomyocytes against IR injury by preventing the dysregulation of myocardial bioenergetics. We identified that FXN expression is increased in response to IR injury and that increase is mediated by hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1α) which results in regulation of mitochondrial iron homeostasis and the ensuing mitochondrial ROS formation. Most surprisingly, we observed that enhanced FXN expression displayed elevated levels of glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Furthermore, these findings were supported in our FXN over-expressing and knock down cells under the same IR condition. Together, these results demonstrate that increased expression of FXN is cardioprotective against IR injury through its anti-oxidant effect and by improving mitochondrial energetics.

 Protective role of frataxin against myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury