Objective    To investigate the effects of pravastatin on the expressions of hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated channel subunits

HCN2 and HCN4 of right ventricular after myocardial infarction (MI) in rats.     Methods    Sprague-Dawley rats MI model was induced by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery

and then 20 MI rats were randomly and equally divided into 24-hour group

1-week group

4-week group and pravastatin group (20 mg·kg

-1

·d

-1

for 4 weeks by gavage). Another 5 rats served as sham-operation group. Real-time PCR and Western blotting were used to measure the mRNA and prote

in expressions of HCN2 and HCN4 in the heart tissues of each group.     Results    The mRNA and protein expressions of HCN2

and mRNA expression of HCN4 were up-regulated in 4-week group and pravastatin group compared with sham-operation group. The expression of HCN2 in pravastatin group were markedly attenuated compared with 4-week group. The protein expression of HCN4 was not detected in all groups.     Conclusion    The expression of HCN2 and HCN4 were up-regulated in myocardial infarction rats. Pravastatin may reverse the up-regulated expressions of HCN2 at mRNA and protein levels.