Protective effect of metoprolol on the development of alcoholic cardiomyopathy in rats

LUO Bang-jun; LIN Zhuan-di; ZHANG Ju-rong; CAI Jing-jing; LIANG Zhan-peng

摘要：Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a chronic cardiomyopathy characterized by dilation and impaired contraction of one or both ventricles with normal or reduced ventricular wall thickness.For the past few years,many studies have shown that metoprolol can improve cardiac function in patients with ACM.However,the effect of metoprolol on cardiac structure and function in patients with ACM remains unclear.Methods A total of 45 Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups:drug group (n=14),alcohol group (n=15) and control group (n=16).Rats in drug group and alcohol group were received 10％ ethanol drinking and gavaged with 60％ ethanol to induce ACM.Oral administration of metoprolol was applied in drug group,while the alcohol group received a placebo.The control group was received water and gavaged with normal saline.Left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDd),left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF),fractional shortening (FS) were measured by ultrasound in the fourth month after randomization.And then,the myocardial tissues were analyzed.Results The myocardial histopathology of the alcohol group was consistent with the pathologic changes of ACM,which proved model success.Compared with control group,the LVEDd values were significantly higher in drug and alcohol groups (P＜0.05),while the LVEF and FS values in drug group and alcohol group were significantly lower.Furthermore,the values of LVEDd were higher in alcohol group,while LVEF and FS were significantly lower than those in drug group.Conclusions Metoprolol alleviates the pathophysiological changes of alcoholic cardiomyopathy.