Abstract: Objective: In addition to pH regulation, Na⁺/H⁺ exchanger (NIE) has been shown to facilitate cell growth and proliferation. However, the effects of long-term inhibition of Na⁺/H⁺ exchange on cardiac structural and functional remodeling post myocardial infarction (MI) are still controversial. The present study was therefore carried ont to further investigate the effects of long-term treatment with cariporide, a specific inhibitor of NHE-1, on cardiac remodeling after MI in rots; Methods: Male Wistar rots that underwent coronary ligation were randomly selected for cariporide treatment starting 6 h after induction of MI or no treatment. Treatment was continued up to 6 weeks post MI, after which, the arterial, venous and left ventricular catheters were chronically implanted. Twenty-four h later, after hemodynamic signals were recorded in conscious rats, they were sacrificed and hearts were taken out for morphological examinations; Results: Cariporide treatment decreased the heart weight and heart weight to body weight ratio (both P<0.05), decreased left ventricular end-diastohc pressure (P<0.001), improved myocardial contractility (dP/dt_max) (P<0.05) and tended to increase the survival of treated rots compared to that of untreated infarct rats; Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate that the long-term inhibition of NHE with cariporide can attenuate cardiac structural re-modeling and improve left ventricular dysfunction in infarcted rats, and suggest that Na⁺/H⁺ exchange inhibition could be an effective therapeutic strategy for myocardial infarction-induced heart failure.

Key words: myocardial infarction, Na⁺/H⁺ exchange inhibitor, remodeling, ventricular function

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