ABSTRACT
Background: Isoprenaline (ISO) in large doses induces morphological and functional alterations in the heart leading to myocardial necrosis. It also produces excessive free radicals resulting from oxidative metabolism of catecholamine. There are increasing evidences that cardiotoxicity of ISO occurs because of generation of free radicals and oxidative stress.
Objective: To investigate the protective effect of pioglitazone on the outcome of isoprenaline (ISO) induced myocardial infarct-like lesions in rats.
Materials and methods:  50 male Wistar albino rats (150-200gm) were selected for this study. The rats were divided into five groups each consisted of 10 rats. This study was conducted at Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University (Assiut).
Results: Results showed that pretreatment with pioglitazone significantly decreased the activity of LDH, CK, TNF alpha, IL 6 and the levels of CTnI in serum of ISO-induced rats. Our results showed that pretreatment with pioglitazone significantly (p < 0.01) decreased the level of MDA compared with ISO alone-induced rats.
Conclusion: Pioglitazone has a valuable protective role against myocardial infarction through its action as peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) agonist.