title: Protective effects of tanshinone IIA sodium sulfonate on ischemia-reperfusion-induced myocardial injury in rats.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study investigated the protective effect of tanshinone IIA sodium sulfonate (TSS) on ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) induced cardiac injury, and the underlying mechanism of action.
  
  
  METHODS
  Male Sprague-Dawley rats were subjected to a 30-min coronary arterial occlusion followed by 24 hours' reperfusion. Half an hour before the left coronary artery ligation, rats were pretreated with TSS in three different dosages (15, 30, 70 mg/kg, IP). Twenty-four hours later, cardiac function was measured and the ratio of infarct size to area at risk (AAR) was calculated. Western blotting examined the expression of the inflammatory mediator high-mobility group box1 (HMGB-1), anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, pro-apoptotic mediators such as Bax and Caspase-3, markers of autophagy such as ratio of LC3B/LC3A and Beclin-1 expression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results showed that TSS dose-dependently improves cardiac function, accompanied with decrease of HMGB1 level, increase of LC3B/LC3A ratio and increase of Beclin-1 expression. TSS treatment down-regulates Bax and Caspase-3 expression, while up-regulating Bcl-2 levels.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TSS ameliorates I/R induced myocardial injury and improves cardiac function via reducing inflammation and apoptosis, while enhancing autophagy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, The First Affiliated Hospital, Soochow University, 188 Shi-Zi Road, Suzhou 215006, PR China.
authors.forename: Yun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, Suzhou, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jin-Xian
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency, The First Affiliated Hospital, Soochow University, 188 Shi-Zi Road, Suzhou 215006, PR China.
authors.forename: Shi-Qi
authors.initials: SQ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Affiliated Suzhou Chinese Traditional Medicine Hospital, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Yang-Su Road, Suzhou 215003, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jing-Wei
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The Affiliated Suzhou Chinese Traditional Medicine Hospital, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Yang-Su Road, Suzhou 215003, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Dong
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Medical College of Soochow University, 199 Ren-Ai Road, Dushu Lake Campus, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Medical College of Soochow University, 199 Ren-Ai Road, Dushu Lake Campus, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lin-Hui
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Medical College of Soochow University, 199 Ren-Ai Road, Dushu Lake Campus, Suzhou Industrial Park, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Guo-Xing
authors.initials: GX
authors.lastname: Zhang
keywords: Apoptosis; Autophagy; Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R); Tanshinone IIA sodium-sulfonate (TSS)