Huoxin Pill (活心丸) Attenuates Cardiac Fibrosis by Suppressing TGF-β1/Smad2/3 Pathway in Isoproterenol-Induced Heart Failure Rats

• Published in: Chinese journal of integrative medicine 2021-06, Vol.27 (6), p.424-431
• Main Authors: Peng, Mei-zhong, Yang, Mei-ling, Shen, A-ling, Zhou, Xue-ling, Lu, Yan, Li, Qi, Shen, Zhi-qing, Huang, Bin, Peng, Jun, Chu, Jian-feng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Article
• ISSN: 1672-0415; 1993-0402
• DOI: 10.1007/s11655-020-2862-8

Objective To evaluate the effects of Huoxin Pill (活心丸, HXP) on cardiac fibrosis and heart failure (HF) in isoproterenol (ISO)-induced HF rats. Methods Thirty Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups including control, HF, isosorbide mononitrate (ISMN), HXP low (HXP-L), and HXP high (HXP-H) groups ( n =6 for each group) according to the complete randomization method. Rats were pretreated with ISMN (5 mg/kg daily), low concentration of HXP (10 mg/kg daily) or high concentration of HXP (30 mg/kg daily) or equal volume of saline by intragastric administration for 1 week, followed by intraperitoneal injection of ISO (10 mg/kg, 14 days), and continually intragastric administrated with above medicines or saline for additional 6 weeks. The effects of HXP treatment on the cardiac function, heart weight index (HWI), pathological changes, and collagen content were further assessed. Moreover, the role of HXP on activation of transforming growth factor- β 1 (TGF-β 1)/Smads pathway was further explored using immunohistochemistry (IHC) and Western-blot assay. Results HXP treatment significantly alleviated the decrease of ejection fraction (EF) and fractional shortening (FS), while decreased the elevation of left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) in ISO-induced HF rats ( P