Ischaemic post-conditioning and nicorandil: a review
Diabetes is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, patients with diabetes are highly sensitive to ischaemia/reperfusion injury, and diabetes can negatively affect cardioprotective intervention, lowering their efficacy. In particular, diabetes impairs the effect of I-Post and nicorandil, which are often used on myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury. Therefore, using one of these measures alone does not help these patients efficiently; a combination therapy holds great potential for these patients. This study aimed to understand the potential of a shift from mono- to combination therapy for diabetic patients with myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury. They found that when combining nicorandil with I-Post, effective cardioprotection is seen due to the activation of the PI3K/Akt signalling pathway.
This review by Xia Z et al. aimed to understand the effect of I-Post with nicorandil as a combination therapy on myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury for diabetic patients.
Key learnings
For patients with diabetes, a combination therapy of I-Post and nicorandil may be useful as a combination therapy in the instance of myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury. Due to the fact that these therapies individually are not as effective in diabetic patients, such a combination therapy holds great potential for cardiovascular protection.