Fluvastatin attenuates diabetes-induced cardiac sympathetic neuropathy in association with a decrease in oxidative stress

Increased oxidative stress might contribute to diabetic (DM) neuropathy, so the effects of long-term treatment with fluvastatin (FL) on myocardial oxidative stress and cardiac sympathetic neural function were investigated in diabetic rats. FL (10 mg·kg-1·day-1, DM-FL) or vehicle (DM-VE) was orally administered for 2 weeks to streptozotocin-induced DM rats. Cardiac oxidative stress was determined by myocardial 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADPH) oxidase subunit p22phox mRNA expression. Sympathetic neural function was quantified by autoradiography using 131I- and 125I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG). FL did not affect plasma glucose levels but remarkably decreased PGF2α levels compared with DM-VE rats (13.8±9.2 vs 175.0±93.9 ng/g tissue), although PGF2α levels were below the detection limit in non-DM rats. FL significantly reduced myocardial p22phox mRNA expression. Cardiac 131I-MIBG uptake was lower in DM-VE rats than in non-DM rats, but the decrease was attenuated in DM-FL rats (1.31±0.08, 1.88±0.22, and 1.58±0.18%kg dose/g, respectively, P<0.01). Cardiac MIBG clearance was not affected by the induction of DM or by FL, indicating that the reduced MIBG uptake in DM rats might result from impaired neural function. FL ameliorates cardiac sympathetic neural dysfunction in DM rats in association with attenuation of increased myocardial oxidative stress. (author)