Left ventricular (LV) remodeling, after myocardial infarction (MI), can result in LV dilation and LV pump dysfunction. Post-MI induction of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), particularly MMP-2 and MMP-9, have been implicated as causing deleterious effects on LV and extracellular matrix remodeling in the MI region and within the initially unaffected remote zone. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are a class of enzymes that affect the transcriptional regulation of genes during pathological conditions. We assessed the efficacy of both class I/IIb-and class I-selective HDAC inhibitors on MMP-2 and MMP-9 abundance and determined if treatment resulted in the attenuation of adverse LV and extracellular matrix remodeling and improved LV pump function post-MI. MI was surgically induced in MMP-9 promoter reporter mice and randomized for treatment with a class I/IIb HDAC inhibitor for 7 days post-MI. After MI, LV dilation, LV pump dysfunction, and activation of the MMP-9 gene promoter were significantly attenuated in mice treated with either the class I/IIb HDAC inhibitor tichostatin A or suberanilohydroxamic acid (voronistat) compared with MI-only mice. Immunohistological staining and zymographic levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were reduced with either tichostatin A or suberanilohydroxamic acid treatment. Class I HDAC activity was dramatically increased post-MI. Treatment with the selective class I HDAC inhibitor PD-106 reduced post-MI levels of both MMP-2 and MMP-9 and attenuated LV dilation and LV pump dysfunction post-MI, similar to class I/IIb HDAC inhibition. Taken together, these unique findings demonstrate that selective inhibition of class I HDACs may provide a novel therapeutic means to attenuate adverse LV remodeling post-MI. myocardial infarction; histone deacetylase; matrix metalloproteinases; transcriptional regulation; macrophages; LV remodeling THE HEALING RESPONSE within the myocardium after a myocardial infarction (MI) is complex and involves both temporal and regional changes, including inflammation, new tissue formation, and tissue remodeling (11). After coronary artery occlusion, there is an induction of bioactive peptides and cytokines, extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, and subsequent recruitment of inflammatory cells to the site of injury (9,16,53). Alterations in the post-MI ECM architecture are largely attributed to changes in the expression of a number of matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) (50). Previous work has demonstrated that induction of MMP-2 gene expression can be detected by day 1 post-MI, reaches its maximum at 7 days, and then gradually decreases (43, 51). Activation of the MMP-9 promoter was detectable by 3 days, peaked by 7 days, and remained upregulated throughout the 28-day time course post-MI (43). The dramatic increases in both MMP-2 and MMP-9 have been proposed to contribute to the disruption of the cardiocyte-matrix interactive network, resulting in cardiocyte misalignment and slippage (53).MMP-9-null mice show attenuated left ventricular (LV) dilation and improved LV function compared w...