Protective effect of ghrelin against tilmicosin-induced left ventricular dysfunction in rats.

This study was conducted to investigate the possible protective effects of ghrelin against tilmicosin-induced acute ventricular dysfunction in rats. Forty adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four equal groups: the control, ghrelin, tilmicosin and ghrelin plus tilmicosin groups. The left ventricular structural and functional parameters with together cardiac biomarker levels were evaluated. The results showed that tilmicosin treatment alone significantly decreased the left ventricular fractional shortening (LVFS), left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular stroke volume (LVSV) and cardiac output (CO) when compared to control group. In addition, tilmicosin led to a significant increase in left ventricular internal dimension in systole (LVIDs) and left ventricular fractional end-systolic volume (LVESV). At the same time, serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) and creatine kinase-myocardial B fraction (CK-MB) levels were significantly increased in tilmicosin-treated group when compared to control group. On the other hand, ghrelin pretreatment significantly prevented the LVIDs, LVESV, LVSV, LVEF, LVFS and CO changes caused by tilmicosin. Moreover, ghrelin pretreatment could reduce significantly serum LDH, CK and CK-MB levels. These data indicated that ghrelin treatment may provide a protective effect against tilmicosin-induced left ventricular systolic dysfunction.