Objective   To explore the effect of propofol on the protection against myocardial reperfusion injury and on NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3)/caspase-1 signal pathway in rats.

  Methods   Sixty specific pathogen free (SPF) male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were treated before the construction of myocardial reperfusion injury model (by ligation of left anterior descending coronary LAD for all the rats except for those of control group) with different agents via femoral vein injection and then randomly divided into six groups: a control group and a model group (both with 3 ml/kg normal saline), a NLRP3 inhibitor group (with 5 mg/kg CY-09), and low-, moderate- high-dose groups (with 20, 40, 60 mg/kg propofol), respectively. Two hours after the construction of myocardial reperfusion injury model, the percentage of myocardial infarction area was measured by triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) method; morphological changes of myocardial tissues were observed with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining; and following reperfusion injury related indicators in myocardial tissues were determined: superoxide dismutase (SOD) with xanthine oxidase method, malondialdehyde (MDA) with thiobarbituric acid colorimetry, interleukin-1 (IL-1)/tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and NLRP3/caspase-1/apoptosis-associated speck-like protein (ASC) with Western blot.

  Results  Compared to those in the control rats, increased myocardial infarction area and severe pathological changes of myocardial tissues were observed and decreased SOD content but increased MDA content and NLRP3, caspase-1, ASC, IL-lβ and TNF-α expressions in myocardium were detected in the model rats (P < 0.05 for all). The rats in the NLRP3 inhibitor group and in the three groups with propofol treatment had significantly alleviated myocardial pathological changes, decreased myocardial infarction area, increased SOD, decreased MDA, and down-regulated expressions of of NLRP3, caspase-1, ASC, IL-lβ and TNF-α in comparison to the rats of model group (all P < 0.05).

  Conclusion  Propofol may play a protective role against myocardial reperfusion injury by inhibiting the NLRP3/caspase-1 pathway and reducing the release of IL-lβ and TNF-α in rats.