Atorvastatin inhibits GSK-3β phosphorylation by cardiac hypertrophic stimuli

In this study we examined the effect of the statin atorvastatin on the Akt/GSK-3β pathway. Our findings indicate that atorvastatin treatment for 15 days inhibited pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy and prevented nuclear translocation of GATA4 and c-Jun and AP-1 DNA-binding activity. In addition, atorvastatin treatment prevented the increase in the phosphorylation of Akt and GSK-3β caused by cardiac hypertrophy, and this effect correlated with an increase in protein levels of phosphatase and tensin homolog on chromosome 10 (PTEN), which negatively regulates the phosphoinositide-3 kinase/Akt pathway. To test whether the inhibitory effect of atorvastatin on Akt and GSK-3β phosphorylation was direct we performed in vitro studies using embryonic rat heart-derived H9c2 cells, human AC16 cardiomyoblasts and neonatal rat cardiomyocytes. Preincubation of cells with atorvastatin prevented Akt/GSK-3β phosphorylation by different hypertrophic stimuli without affecting PTEN protein levels. However, atorvastatin prevented endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and PTEN oxidation, a process that correlates with its inactivation, suggesting that atorvastatin prevents ROS-induced PTEN inactivation in acute treatments. These findings point to a new potential anti-hypertrophic effect of statins, which can prevent activation of the Akt/GSK-3β hypertrophic pathway by modulating PTEN activation by different mechanisms in chronic and acute treatments.