title: Berberine attenuates myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury by suppressing the activation of PI3K/AKT signaling.
abstract: Berberine (BBR), an isoquinoline alkaloid originally isolated from the Chinese herbCoptis chinensis(Huanglian), exhibits anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive properties. Since myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is associated with an excessive immune response, the current study was conducted to investigate the impact of BBR on myocardial I/R injury, a common disorder in clinical settings. Preconditioning of Sprague-Dawley rats with BBR (100 mg/kg/day, by gavage) for 14 days prior to the induction of I/R significantly attenuated myocardial I/R injury as manifested by a reduction in the incidence of ventricular arrhythmia and the amelioration of myocardial histological changes. These effects were found to be associated with the suppression of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/AKT signaling pathway and the subsequent reduction of the expression of interleukin (IL)-6, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-α in the serum and myocardial tissue. These results indicate that BBR has the potential be an effective alternative therapy for the prevention and treatment of myocardial I/R injury in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Weifang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Weifang, Shandong 261041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qin-Wei
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Weifang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Weifang, Shandong 261041, P.R. China; Department of Emergency, Weifang People's Hospital, Weifang, Shandong 261041, P.R. China.
authors.forename: L I
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Yong-Guang
keywords: berberine; inflammation; myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury; phosphoinositide 3-kinase; protein kinase B