title: Amelioration of cardiac dysfunction and ventricular remodeling after myocardial infarction by danhong injection are critically contributed by anti-TGF-β-mediated fibrosis and angiogenesis mechanisms.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Danhong injection (DHI) is a standardized product extracted from Radix et Rhizoma Salviae Miltiorrhizae and Flos Carthami , which has been long applied mainly used to treat ischemic encephalopathy and cardiac diseases including myocardial infarction and angina in clinical practice.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  Aim of this study was to investigate the salutary effects of DHI by slowing ventricular remodeling and improving cardiac function after myocardial infarction (MI) in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this study, Male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to ligation on left anterior descending coronary artery to establish MI models and valsartan was selected as positive control. Cardiac function examination was conducted at the 1st, 3rd, 7th, 14th and the 28th days after LAD. Haematoxylin and Eosin (HE) staining and Masson staining were conducted to observe cardiac pathology and morphological changes levels of VEGF, TGF-β, MMP-2, and MMP-9 in the myocardial tissue were determined in gene and protein expressions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 3 days post-treatment and thereafter, EF and FS in DHI group were greater than that of model group (p<0.05). Compared with the MI group, ratio of infarct was markedly decreased in treated-DHI group(p<0.05). TGF-β1 protein and ﬁbrosis-related proteins MMP-2 and MMP-9 were up-regulated after MI, and they were signiﬁcantly suppressed by the administration of DHI(p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). Moreover, DHI improved the mRNA expression of VEGF and increased the blood vessel density of myocardial infarct border zone. DHI decreased the expression of cell apoptosis protein of caspase-3 and increased the anti-apoptotic protein, bcl-2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We provided direct evidences that DHI improves cardiac remodeling and preserves ventricular function post-MI in rats. DHI conferred cardio-protection in rats with MI via anti-myocardial apoptosis, angiogenesis, reduction of myocardial fibrosis and many other aspects of joint actions.
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: cjr420983@126.com.
authors.forename: Jingrui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: appleforcc@sina.com.
authors.forename: Wenjie
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: pharmapf@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Patrick Fordjour
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Asare
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: mingming07408031@163.com.
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: yanzhu.harvard@icloud.com.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: lilan_0813@163.com.
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: wj130124@126.com.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: rimegaohui@126.com.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: zhanghan0023@126.com.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: haoping_mao@126.com.
authors.forename: Haoping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: gaoxiumei@tjutcm.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiumei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Key Laboratory of Pharmacology of Traditional Chinese Medicine Formulae, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China; Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. Electronic address: fgw1005@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Guanwei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000517:prevention & control*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D020257:Ventricular Remodeling / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; C540581:danhong
keywords: Angiogenesis; Anti-myocardial apoptosis; Cardiac function; Danhong injection; Ventricular remodeling