Kolaviron, a biflavonoid of Garcinia kola seed mitigates ischemic/reperfusion injury by modulation of pro-survival and apoptotic signaling pathways.

OBJECTIVE

The study was designed to investigate the ameliorative effect of Kolaviron (KV) on ischemic/reperfusion injury in experimental animal models.

METHODS

Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups: Group 1 received corn oil as a vehicle and rats in Group 2 were administered KV at 200 mg/kg for 4 weeks. The rats were fed with rat standard chow pellet and water administered ad libitum. After 4 weeks of KV administration, hearts were excised and mounted on the working heart perfusion system. Western blot analysis for protein expression was carried out on frozen heart samples.

RESULTS

There was significant (P < 0.05) reduction in the activity of catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase with concomitant reduction in oxygen radical absorbance capacity in ischemic rat heart of control compared to group pre-treated with KV, respectively. Similarly, intracellular reactive oxygen species and malondialdehyde were significantly elevated in control compared to KV pre-treated rats. KV significantly increased total Akt/protein kinase B (PKB), phosphorylated Akt/PKB at serine 473 and also caused a significant reduction in p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase, Caspase 3, and cleaved poly adenosine diphosphate ribose polymerase.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, KV offered significant cardioprotection via free radical scavenging activity and upregulation of pro-survival pathway.