[Effect of folium panax quinquefolium saponins on apoptosis of cardiac muscle cells and apoptosis-related gene expression in rats with acute myocardial infarction].
OBJECTIVE
To observe the effect of Folium Panax quinquefolium saponins (PQS) on apoptosis of cardiac muscle cells (CMCs) and apoptosis-related gene expression in rats with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).


METHODS
Fifty Wistar rats were randomly divided into 5 groups, 40 rats underwent coronary ligation of left anterior descending branch to establish AMI rats model, while to the other 10 rats in the sham-operation group, thoracotomy without coronary ligation was carried out. The AMI model rats in treated groups were treated with high-dosage PQS, low-dosage PQS, captopril respectively for 7 days, and those in the control group were treated with normal saline instead. Then, the apoptotic CMCs were labeled by TUNEL and the expression of Bcl-2 and Fas in cardiac muscle cells were determined by immunohistochemical methods.


RESULTS
The apoptotic index of CMCs in the model rats (46.48%) was significantly higher than that in the sham-operation group ( 1.03%, P<0.01 ). CMCs apoptosis rate in the low-dosage PQS group, the large-dosage group and the captopril group was 23.53 %, 17.58 % and 25.17 %, respectively, all were significantly lower than that in the sham-operation group (P<0.01). The expression of Bcl-2 gene was up-regulated and expression of Fas protein was down-regulated in the three treated groups.


CONCLUSIONS
PQS can inhibit CMCs apoptosis in AMI rats, downregulate Fas protein expression and up-regulate Bcl-2 protein expression, and has antagonistic effect in myocardial ischemic injury.
Yin
Hui-jun
HJ
Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing. huijunyin@yahoo.com.cn
Zhang
Ying
Y
Jiang
Yue-rong
YR
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000473:pathology; D005894:Panax; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012503:Saponins / Q000494:pharmacology*
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D011506:Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D012503:Saponins