Simvastatin Acutely Reduces Myocardial Reperfusion Injury In Vivo by Activating the Phosphatidylinositide 3-Kinase/Akt Pathway

Long-term pretreatment with statins reduces myocardial injury after acute ischemia and reperfusion by increasing the expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). We hypothesized that statins may act rapidly enough to protect the myocardium from ischemia/reperfusion injury when given right at the beginning of the reperfusion period and tried to delineate the role of PI 3-kinase/Akt pathway in early eNOS activation. Activated...