The critical role of Astragalus polysaccharides for the improvement of PPARα [ correction of PPRAα]-mediated lipotoxicity in diabetic cardiomyopathy.
BACKGROUND
Obesity-related diabetes mellitus leads to increased myocardial uptake and oxidation of fatty acids, resulting in a form of cardiac dysfunction referred to as lipotoxic cardiomyopathy. We have shown previously that Astragalus polysaccharides (APS) administration was sufficient to improve the systemic metabolic disorder and cardiac dysfunction in diabetic models.


RESULTS
To investigate the precise role of APS therapy in the pathogenesis of myocardial lipotoxity in diabetes, db/db diabetic mice and myosin heavy chain (MHC)- peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) α mice were characterized and administrated with or without APS with C57 wide- type mice as normal control. APS treatment strikingly improved the myocyte triacylglyceride accumulation and cardiac dysfunction in both db/db mice and MHC-PPARα mice, with the normalization of energy metabolic derangements in both db/db diabetic hearts and MHC-PPARα hearts. Consistently, the activation of PPARα target genes involved in myocardial fatty acid uptake and oxidation in both db/db diabetic hearts and MHC-PPARα hearts was reciprocally repressed by APS administration, while PPARα-mediated suppression of genes involved in glucose utilization of both diabetic hearts and MHC-PPARα hearts was reversed by treatment with APS.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that APS therapy could prevent the development of diabetic cardiomyopathy through a mechanism mainly dependent on the cardiac PPARα-mediated regulatory pathways.
Department of Geriatrics, Hushan Hospital, Fudan University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
Wei
W
Chen
Yanping
Y
Xia
Xuelan
X
Zhao
Hao
H
Wang
Wenjie
W
Chen
Maohua
M
Yu
Yiming
Y
Li
Hongying
H
Ye
Yu
Y
Zhang
D000818:Animals; D027885:Astragalus propinquus / Q000737:chemistry*; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000378:metabolism; D015153:Blotting, Western; D003124:Colorimetry; D058065:Diabetic Cardiomyopathies / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004452:Echocardiography; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified / Q000097:blood; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D051379:Mice; D008820:Mice, Obese; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D032342:Muscle Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D047493:PPAR alpha / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D011134:Polysaccharides / Q000032:analysis / Q000494:pharmacology*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*
D001786:Blood Glucose; D005230:Fatty Acids, Nonesterified; D007328:Insulin; D047493:PPAR alpha; D011134:Polysaccharides; D014280:Triglycerides; D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains