title: Leonurine (SCM-198) improves cardiac recovery in rat during chronic infarction.
abstract: Leonurine, an alkaloid typically found in Herba leonuri, is known to have both antioxidant and cardioprotective properties. In the present study, we investigated the cardioprotective mechanism of leonurine the in vivo rat model of chronic myocardial ischemia and in vitro H9c2 cardiac myocyte model of oxidative stress. Myocardial ischemia was induced by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery. Rats were divided into sham, myocardial ischemia+saline, and myocardial ischemia+leonurine (15 mg/kg/day). Cardiac function was recorded by catheterization. Apoptosis-related factor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), survivin, Bcl-2 and Bax and pro-survival signaling pathways Akt, hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-1α were measured by Western blotting or RT-PCR. Our results showed leonurine significantly improved myocardial function as evidenced by the decreased left ventricle end-diastolic pressure and the increased +dP/dt. Interestingly, leonurine increased the phosphorylation of Akt, the protein and gene expression of Bcl-2, but it reduced the protein and gene expression of Bax in vivo. Meanwhile leonurine significantly increased Akt phosphorylation in a concentration-dependent manner in H9c2 cardiac myocyte induced by oxidative stress in vitro, which was abolished by a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor, LY294002. Furthermore, leonurine not only increased the expression of HIF-1α but also the expression of survivin and VEGF. The results of present study demonstrated, for the first time that leonurine has potent anti-apoptotic effects after chronic myocardial ischemia mediated by activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Angiogenic mechanisms may be partially responsible for such an effect, which needs to be studied further.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy and Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 201203, China.
authors.forename: XinHua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: LiLong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: QiHai
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: YiZhun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D000470:Alkaloids / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D042501:Angiogenic Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002460:Cell Line; D005707:Gallic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D006321:Heart / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D017202:Myocardial Ischemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D009206:Myocardium / Q000378:metabolism; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects; D010766:Phosphorylation / Q000187:drug effects; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000470:Alkaloids; D042501:Angiogenic Proteins; D000975:Antioxidants; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D015415:Biomarkers; D002316:Cardiotonic Agents; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C013587:leonurine; D005707:Gallic Acid