title: Asiatic Acid Attenuates the Progression of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Heart Failure Induced by Pressure Overload by Inhibiting Myocardial Remodeling in Mice.
abstract: Cardiac structural remodeling, including cardiomyocyte apoptosis, interstitial fibrosis, and inflammation, appears to be a key event associated with the progression of left ventricular hypertrophy and heart failure. Asiatic acid (AA) is a triterpenoid compound extracted from Centella asiatica that exhibits antiapoptotic, antifibrotic, and anti-inflammatory activities. In the present study, a transverse aortic constriction (TAC) model was created in mice to mimic the progression of hypertrophy (2 weeks post-TAC) and heart failure (4 weeks post-TAC) to investigate whether the potential therapeutic drug AA ameliorates hypertrophy progression and which mechanisms are involved in this amelioration. Our results demonstrated that AA markedly inhibited the process of progression induced by pressure overload. The increases cardiomyocyte apoptosis and interstitial fibrosis, and inflammatory responses were significantly suppressed by AA. Our investigation revealed that this inhibitory effect was mediated by blocking the activation of both mitochondrial and death receptor-dependent apoptotic signaling pathways. Additional experiments demonstrated that AA attenuated fibrosis by blocking both transforming growth factor-β1/Smad and interleukin-6, signaling activation. Consequently, these findings indicated that AA attenuated pathological cardiac structural remodeling and preserved cardiac function via multiple intracellular signaling pathways in response to cardiac stimuli.
authors.affiliation: *Department of Intensive Care Unit, The First People's Hospital of Yancheng, Yancheng, China; †Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China; ‡Institute of Integrated Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China; §Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China; and ¶Department of Cardiology, The Affiliated Jiangning Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: Linjie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Si
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Chenlong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Xiaohan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Junyi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yuqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018450:Disease Progression; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D017379:Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D053978:Pentacyclic Triterpenes / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020257:Ventricular Remodeling / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D053978:Pentacyclic Triterpenes; C017032:asiatic acid