Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jan;19(1):19-26.
doi: 10.14744/AnatolJCardiol.2017.8079.

Chronic ethanol increases calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinaseIIδ gene expression and decreases monoamine oxidase amount in rat heart muscles: Rescue effect of Zingiber officinale (ginger) extract

Elaheh Heshmati, Alireza Shirpoor  1 , Fatemeh Kheradmand, Mohammad Alizadeh, Farzaneh Hosseini Gharalari
Affiliations

Chronic ethanol increases calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinaseIIδ gene expression and decreases monoamine oxidase amount in rat heart muscles: Rescue effect of Zingiber officinale (ginger) extract

Elaheh Heshmati et al. Anatol J Cardiol. 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: Association between chronic alcohol intake and cardiac abnormality is well known; however, the precise underlying molecular mediators involved in ethanol-induced heart abnormalities remain elusive. This study investigated the effect of chronic ethanol exposure on calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIδ (CaMKIIδ) gene expression and monoamine oxidase (MAO) levels and histological changes in rat heart. It was also planned to find out whether Zingiber officinale (ginger) extract mitigated the abnormalities induced by ethanol in rat heart.

Methods: Male wistar rats were divided into three groups of eight animals each: control, ethanol, and ginger extract treated-ethanol (GETE) groups.

Results: After 6 weeks of treatment, the results revealed a significant increase in CaMKIIδtotal and isoforms δ2 and δ3 of CaMKIIδ gene expression as well as a significant decrease in the MAO levels in the ethanol group compared to that in the control group. Moreover, compared to the control group, the ethanol group showed histological changes, such as fibrosis, heart muscle cells proliferation, myocyte hypertrophy, vacuolization, and focal lymphocytic infiltration. Consumption of ginger extract along with ethanol ameliorated CaMKIIδtotal. In addition, compared to the ethanol group, isoforms gene expression changed and increased the reduced MAO levels and mitigated heart structural changes.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that ethanol-induced heart abnormalities may, in part, be associated with Ca2+ homeostasis changes mediated by overexpression of CaMKIIδ gene and the decrease of MAO levels and that these effects can be alleviated by using ginger extract as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining shows infiltration of focal PMN, increase of, vacuolization of cells, and heart muscle cell atrophy were observed in heart tissue in ethanol-treated group (E) compared to control group animals (C). There were no significant differences in terms of heart tissue structure between the GETE (E+G) and control groups. (Original magnification, 400×). Vacuolization (formula image), PMN(formula image), Hyperhrophy (formula image)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Immunohistochemical staining of heart tissue by proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) antibody showed mild to moderate heart muscle cell proliferation (E) compared to the control group (C). Ginger extract treatment along with ethanol normalized cell proliferation in heart tissue (E+G). (Original magnification, 400×). PCNA-positive indices (formula image)
Figure 3
Figure 3
Photomicrograph of heart tissue of rats (Masson trichrome staining). in (C), sample obtained from control group; in (E), sample obtained from Ethanol group; in(E+G), sample obtained from GETE group. (Original magnification, 400×). Fibrosis (formula image)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Thomas AP, Rozanski DJ, Renard DC, Rubin E. Effects of ethanol on the contractile function of the heart:a review. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1994;18:121–31. - PubMed
    1. Shirpoor A, Nemati S, Ansari MH, Ilkhanizadeh B. The protective effect of vitamin E against prenatal and early postnatal ethanol treatment-induced heart abnormality in rats:a 3-month follow-up study. Int Immunopharmacol. 2015;26:72–9. - PubMed
    1. Ni Y, Feng-Chen KC, Hsu L. A tissue culture model for studying ethanol toxicity on embryonic heart cells. Cell Biol Toxicol. 1992;8:1–11. - PubMed
    1. Shirpoor A, Salami S, Khadem-Ansari MH, Heshmatian B, Ilkhanizadeh B. Long-term ethanol consumption initiates atherosclerosis in rat aorta through inflammatory stress and endothelial dysfunction. Vascul Pharmacol. 2012;57:72–7. - PubMed
    1. Norouzi L, Shirpoor A, Khadem Ansari MH, Ilkhanizadeh B. Vitamin E attenuates alcohol-induced aortic wall damage in rats. Artery Research. 2015;10:20–6.

LinkOut - more resources