N-n-butyl haloperidol iodide mediates cardioprotection via regulating AMPK/FoxO1 signalling

Derangement of redox condition largely contributes to cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. FoxO1 is a transcription factor which transcripts a series of antioxidants to antagonize I/R-induced oxidative myocardial damage. N-n-butyl haloperidol iodide (F-2) is a derivative derived from haloperidol structural modification with potent capacity of inhibiting oxidative stress. This investigation intends to validate whether cardio-protection of F-2 is dependent on FoxO1 using an in vivo mouse I/R model and if so, to further elucidate the molecular regulating mechanism. This study initially revealed that F-2 preconditioning led to a profound reduction in I/R injury, which was accompanied by attenuated oxidative stress and upregulation of antioxidants (SOD2 and catalase), nuclear FoxO1 and phosphorylation of AMPK. Furthermore, inactivation of FoxO1 with AS1842856 abolished the cardio-protective effect of F-2. Importantly, we identified F-2-mediated nuclear accumulation of FoxO1 is dependent on AMPK, as blockage of AMPK with compound C induced nuclear exit of FoxO1. Collectively, our data uncover that F-2 pretreatment exerts significant protection against post ischemic myocardial injury by its regulation of AMPK/FoxO1 pathway, which may provide a new avenue for treating ischemic disease.