ABSTRACT
Aim To observe the cardio-protective effects of curcumin on rats with myocardial hypertrophy, and to further explore the mechanism. Methods Abdominal aorta was constricted in SD rats to establish a pressure overload-induced myocardial hypertrophy model. Rats were divided into sham group, AAC group and curcumin group. They were treated by intragastric administration. Twenty weeks after the operation, cardiac function was evaluated using echocardiogram. The heart rate was recorded using biological function experiment system. The blood pressure and left ventricular pressure were measured by a cannulation into right common carotid artery and left ventricular respectively. Circulating blood MPs level in rats was detected by BCA. Effects of MPs on the viability of human umbilical vein endothelial cell were measured by CCK-8. Results Twenty weeks after surgery, only two rats in AAC group died. The results of echocardiography showed that compared with sham group, left ventricular internal dimension at systole (LVIDs), left ventricular internal diastolic dimension (LVIDd), left ventricular posterior wall diameter (LVPWd), heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) all significantly increased in AAC group, whereas ejection fraction (EF), fractional shortening (FS), left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), maximum upstroke velocity of left ventricular pressure (+ dp/dt