N-acetylcysteine treatment normalizes serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha level and hinders the progression of cardiac injury in hypertensive rats

Background— Studies in isolated cardiomyocytes showed that replenishment in cellular glutathione, achieved with the glutathione precursor N -acetylcysteine (NAC), abrogated deleterious effects of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Methods and Results— We examined the ability of NAC to limit the progression of cardiac injury in the rat model of hypertension, induced by the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor N G -nitro- l -arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) (50 mg/kg per day SC) and high-salt diet (HS) (8% NaCl). Four-week HS/L-NAME administration induced hypertension (193±8 versus 122±4 mm Hg for low-salt diet [LS] group) and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, revealed by echocardiography and characterized by decreased LV shortening fraction (38±2% versus 49±4% for LS group; P P Conclusions— These findings suggest that glutathione status determines the adverse effects of TNF-α in cardiac failure and that TNF-α antagonism may be achieved by glutathione supplementation.