Effect of Tanshinone IIA on Left Ventricular Hypertrophy and Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis in Spontaneous Hypertensive Rats / 中国循环杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effect of tanshinone IIA (TSN) on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and cardiomyocyte apoptosis in spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHRs). Methods: A total of 60 SHRs at 8 weeks of age were randomly divided into 3 group Blank control group, the rats were sacriifced at 8 weeks, TSN group, the rats were treated with TSN at 1 ml/(kg?d) for 18 weeks and Solvent control group, the rats were treated with the solvent at 1 ml/(kg?d) for 18 weeks. n=20 in each group and 15 rats were used for the experiments. The systolic blood pressure (SBP) and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) were examined, cardiomyocyte’s diameter and surface area were measured by HE staining, the apoptosis rate was evaluated by TUNEL method and the apoptosis related protein expression s of Bcl-2, Bax and p53 were determined by Western blot analysis. Results: ①Compared with Solvent control group, TSN group had decreased LVMI (3.23 ± 0.24) mg/g vs (4.58 ± 0.68) mg/g,cardiomyocyte’s diameter (16.13 ± 1.77) μm vs (27.15 ± 3.52) μm and surface area (230.23 ± 69.37) μm2 vs (490.12 ± 118.96) μm2and decreased apoptosis rate (7.45 ± 1.78) % vs (10.61 ± 2.77) %, allP0.05. Conclusion: TSN could inhibit the development of LVH and decrease the cardiomyocyte apoptosis, which might be via up-regulating the protein expressions of Bcl-2 and down-regulating Bax and p53 in SHRs.