2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

The new specific therapy for myocarditis with ghrelin

Research Project

Project/Area Number	24790761
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Circulatory organs internal medicine
Research Institution	The University of Tokushima
Principal Investigator	UEMATSU Etsuko 徳島大学, ヘルスバイオサイエンス研究部, 教務補佐員 (10352080)
Project Period (FY)	2012-04-01 – 2014-03-31
Keywords	分子心臓学
Research Abstract	Methods: Male Lewis rats were immunized and autoimmune myocarditis was induced. From the 3 weeks after the first myosin injection, ghrelin or vehicle were administered for 3 weeks. Six weeks after the first immunization, the severity of myocarditis was evaluated by echocardiography, hemodynamics, pathology, and gene expressions in myocardium. Ghrelin improved the deteriorated left ventricular (LV) fractional shortening and LV enlargement. In a hemodynamic study, there was a substantial decrease in LV end-diastolic pressure in ghrelin-treated rats. Ghrelin markedly attenuated an increase in morphometrical collagen volume fraction in LV. Interestingly, the treatment of ghrelin decreased the mRNA expression of interferon -gamma and interleukin (IL) -2 and increased the mRNA expression of IL-4 and IL-10 in the heart of rats with myocarditis. In conclusion, administration of ghrelin improved LV dysfunction in rats with myocarditis probably via the modulation of helper T cell activation.