Simvastatin Inhibits the Function of TRPC1 and Aameliorate Endothelin 1 Induced Cardiac Hypertrophy

Background & Purpose Intracellular Ca2+ plays an important role in the cardiac physiology and development. Augmentation in intracellular Ca2+ activates the hypertrophic response in cardiomyocytes, although the source of the Ca2+ responsible for this is still elusive. We have previously shown that calcium influx through Transient receptor potential canonical 1 (TRPC1) channel is a key mediator of the cardiac hypertrophic response and lipid raft facilitates the channels assembly. Statins have recently been shown to exert pleiotropic protective effects in cardiac hypertrophy. Here, we studied whether simvastatin interfere with the membrane lipid raft formation and affects the TRPC1 channel function to protect the cardiomyocytes against hypertrophic stimuli. Methods H9C2 cells were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, VA) and maintained in high glucose DMEM supplemented with heat-inactivated 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) (Gibco, MD), 100 units/ml penicillin, 100 μg/ml streptomycin in...