Knockdown of Galectin-3 confers myocardial protection against ischemia-reperfusion injury, modulating oxidative stress, inflammatory response, and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor g signaling pathway.

Objective: Ischemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury in the myocardium is a considerable challenge in cardiovascular medicine, posing a severe threat to life. Given that galectin-3 possibly regulates myocardial I-R damage, this study aims to investigate the detailed mechanisms underlying galectin-3's effects on myocardial I-R injury. Material and Methods: The expression levels of galectin-3 Results: Myocardial I-R damage was associated with increased galectin-3 expression, and the blood levels of creatine kinase-myocardial band and creatine kinase were favorably correlated with the messenger RNA levels of galectin-3 in mice with cardiac I-R damage. The inhibition of galectin-3 alleviated oxidative stress and inflammatory response, and galectin-3 promoted reactive oxygen species production in myocardial I-R cells. Furthermore, the cardiac I-R damage mouse model exhibited decreased expression of proteins linked to the PPARg signaling pathway, but galectin-3 inhibition enhanced the expression of these proteins. Conclusion: Galectin-3 plays a crucial role in exacerbating myocardial I-R injury, and its up-regulation is associated with increased oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, and inhibition of the protective PPARg signaling pathway. The alleviation of these harmful effects by galectin-3 inhibition suggests that targeting galectin-3 is a potential therapeutic method for reducing myocardial I-R injury.