Effect of Shenfu injection on nuclear factor-kappaB during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate effects of Shenfu injection on the concentrations of plasma tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6), activity of Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) and heart tissue ultrastructure during myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in rats and its potential mechanism.


METHODS
Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) was produced by ligation and release of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Ischemia lasted for 30 min and reperfusion for 60 min. Twenty-four healthy male SD rats weighing 230-280 g were randomly divided into three groups (n = 8, each): Group I (Sham-operation group); Group II (I/R group); Group III (Shenfu group), in which Shenfu injection (10 ml/kg) was intraperitoneally injected 30 min before ischemia in animals with I/R. The plasma concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-alpha were measured by ELISA, and the heart was harvested for determination of NF-kappaB levels by Ecl-western blot analysis. Electron microscopy was used to study its ultrastructure.


RESULTS
After reperfusion, NF-kappaB binding activity in myocardial nuclei and the plasma concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-alpha were significantly increased in Group II, compared with Group I (P < 0.01), and they were markedly reduced in Group III, compared with Group II (P < 0.01). In addition, electron microscopic examination showed more serious injury of the myocardium ultrastructure in Group II, while in Group III the myocardial ultrastructure was similar to normal state.


CONCLUSIONS
Shenfu injection inhibits NF-kappaB activity in I/R myocardium and leads to down-regulation of proinflammatory cytokine expression, which might be one of the molecular mechanisms of Shenfu injection in cardioprotection.
Zhang
Ben-jing
BJ
Department of Anesthesiology, Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, China.
Wang
Yan-lin
YL
Wang
Cheng-yao
CY
D000818:Animals; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D015428:Myocardial Reperfusion Injury / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009210:Myofibrils / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000032:analysis
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D015850:Interleukin-6; D016328:NF-kappa B; C492793:Shen-Fu; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha