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Role of levothyroxine and vitamin E supplementation in the treatment of oxidative stress-induced injury and apoptosis of myocardial cells in hypothyroid rats

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Abstract

Objective

To explore the underlying mechanism and treatment of myocardial injury caused by hypothyroidism, we evaluated oxidative stress in serum and myocardial tissue of hypothyroid rats. The effect of levothyroxine (LT4) replacement therapy and vitamin E (VitE) supplementation on oxidative stress-induced injury and apoptosis of myocardial tissue is examined.

Methods

Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups: normal control group, propylthiouracil group (PTU group), LT4 treatment group (PTU + LT4 group), vitamin E treatment group (PTU + VitE group), and combined treatment group (PTU + LT4 + VitE group). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) expression in serum and myocardium were determined. Myocardial apoptosis index (AI) in each group was determined by TUNEL assay.

Results

SOD levels in serum were significantly increased in PTU + VitE and PTU + LT4 + Vit E groups, as compared to that in PTU and PTU + LT4 groups (P < 0.05). MDA levels in serum and myocardial tissue were significantly lower in PTU + LT4, PTU + VitE, and PTU + LT4 + VitE groups, as compared to that in the PTU group (P < 0.05). Myocardial apoptosis was significantly increased in PTU and PTU + VitE groups as compared to that in the normal control group (P < 0.05), while it was significantly lower in PTU + LT4 and PTU + LT4 + VitE groups, as compared to that in the PTU group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

In this study, levothyroxine replacement therapy and vitamin E supplementation appeared to ameliorate myocardial apoptosis in hypothyroid rats, the mechanism of which appears to be related to improved thyroid function and reduced oxidative stress.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endorinology and Metabolism, The Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University, 678, Furong Road, Hefei, Anhui, 230601, China

    J. Ye, X. Zhong, Y. Du, C. Cai & T. Pan

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  1. J. Ye
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  2. X. Zhong
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  3. Y. Du
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  4. C. Cai
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  5. T. Pan
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Correspondence to J. Ye.

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Conflict of interest

None of the authors have any potential conflict of interests associated with this research.

Author contribution

JY, XZ, YD and TP were involved in the review of the literature and drafting the manuscript. CC and JY participated in the experiment and acquisition of data. All authors read and approved the final paper.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

In this study, protocol for animal care, maintenance, and experimentation, were approved by the institutional animal ethics committee of Anhui Medical University in China, as mentioned in the paper.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Ye, J., Zhong, X., Du, Y. et al. Role of levothyroxine and vitamin E supplementation in the treatment of oxidative stress-induced injury and apoptosis of myocardial cells in hypothyroid rats. J Endocrinol Invest 40, 713–719 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-017-0624-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40618-017-0624-z

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