Abstract 20030: Reperfusion Therapy With Rapamycin Prevents Myocardial Injury in Type 2 Diabetic Rabbits

Background: A sustained hyperactive mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) leads to diabetic complication with cardiovascular disease through stimulation of oxidative stress and inflammatory responses, which cause myocardial reperfusion injury following ischemia. Therefore, we examined the effect of mTOR inhibition with rapamycin (RAPA) at reperfusion on reduction of myocardial infarction (MI) in a conscious type 2 diabetic (T2D) rabbit model of MI. Methods and Results: The New Zealand white male rabbits (2.2-2.5 kg, 3-4 month old) were randomly assigned to the control group (n=10) fed with the normal chow. To induce T2D, another group (n=10) was fed with high fat diet (HFD) consisting of the standard rabbit chow with an additional 15% fat (10% corn oil and 5% lard) for a period of 25 weeks. Body weight and blood glucose levels were monitored. Post-heparin plasma was collected from rabbits to measure triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL, vLDL) using ...