THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF NICORANDIL IN EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED ATHEROSCLEROSIS VERSUS ATORVASTATIN IN RATS
Noha S. Abdel Latif, Elsayed M. Elrokh, Aida A. Khattab, Essam F. Alalkamy, Laila A. Rashed and Reham S. Esmail. Medical Pharmacology & Medical Biochemistry departments, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. Pathology department, National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt.
The comparative study of the atheroprotective effect of nicorandil (2 mg/kg/day orally) versus atorvastatin (10 mg/kg/day orally) was carried out on high fat/high cholesterol diet (HF/HCD) induced atherosclerosis in rats as a model. The animals were divided into four groups: normal (received normal diet), atherosclerotic (model), nicorandil and atorvastatin treated animals. The degree of protection was assessed biochemically by measuring variations in serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), very low density lipoproteins-cholesterol (VLDL-C), atherogenic index and histopathologically through measuring aortic wall thickness. Prophylactic nicorandil elicited a significant protection against atherosclerosis in rats. In conclusion, the present study has shown that nicorandil exhibits antiatherosclerotic effects. The mechanism could be attributed to its releasing nitric oxide property and vasodilatative effect through cGMP formation and opening of K+ channels in variety of cells.
December 2014