O-Phenanthroline is a membrane-permeable metal chelator, known as a non-specific matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitor [1].

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent proteases involved in intra- and extra-cellular matrix remodeling resulting from an oxidative stress injury to the heart, of which MMP-2 increases during myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury-reduced oxidative stress, proteolyzing nuclear structural proteins.

In vitro proteolysis of lamins, which are the intermediate filament proteins providing support to the nuclear structural proteins and are targets of MMP-2, o-Phenanthroline abolished the proteolysis of lamin A [2].

The isolated rat hearts were subjected to ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury, of which treated with o-Phenanthroline had better left ventricular developed pressure and coronary flow during the reperfusion phase compared to those did not receive the drug [2].

Reference:

[1] Georgi N, Landman E B M, Klein T J, et al. O-Phenanthroline as modulator of the hypoxic and catabolic response in cartilage tissue-engineering models [J]. J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2017, 11(3): 724-732.

[2] Baghirova S, Hughes B G, Poirier M, et al. Nuclear matrix metalloproteinase-2 in the cardiomyocyte and the ischemic-reperfused heart [J]. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2016, 94: 153-161.