Study on the protective effects of danshen-honghua herb pair (DHHP) on myocardial ischaemia/reperfusion injury (MIRI) and potential mechanisms based on apoptosis and mitochondria.

CONTEXT: Danshen, the dried root and rhizome of Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge (Labiatae) and honghua, the dried flower of Carthamus tinctorius L. (Compositae) as the herb pair was used to treat cardiovascular diseases (CVD). OBJECTIVE: To study the effects of DHHP on MIRI and mechanisms based on apoptosis and mitochondria. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 36 SD rats (n = 6) were randomly divided into control group (Con), the ischaemia-reperfusion group (IR), positive control (Xinning tablets, XNT, 1 g/kg/d) and DHHP (1.2, 2.4, and 4.8 g/kg/d). Except for Con, the other groups were intragastrically administrated for 5 d, the rat hearts were isolated to establish the MIRI model in vitro for evaluating the effects of DHHP on MIRI. 24 SD rats (n = 6) were randomly divided into Con, IR, DPPH2.4 (2.4 g/kg/d) and DPPH 2.4 + Atractyloside (ATR) (2.4 + 5 mg/kg/d), administered intragastrically for 5 d, then treated with ATR (5 mg/kg/d) by intraperitoneal injection in DPPH2.4 + ATR group, took rat hearts to establish MIRI model in vitro for revealing mechanism. RESULTS: Myocardial infarct sizes were, respectively, 0.35%, 40.09%, 15.84%, 30.13%, concentrations of NAD+ (nmol/gw/w) were 144, 83, 119, and 88, respectively, in Con, IR, DHHP2.4, DHHP2.4 + ATR group. Cleaved caspase-3 were 0.3, 1.6, 0.5 and 1.3% and cleaved caspase-9 were 0.2, 1.1, 0.4 and 0.8%, respectively, in Con, IR, DHHP2.4 and DHHP2.4 + ATR group. The beneficial effects of DHHP on MIRI were reversed by ATR. CONCLUSIONS: The improvement of MIRI by DHHP may be involved in inhibiting MPTP opening, decreasing oxidative damage, alleviating ischaemic injury and inhibiting cardiomyocyte apoptosis.

Investigating the effects and possible mechanisms of danshen- honghua herb pair on acute myocardial ischemia induced by isoproterenol in rats.

Danshen (salvia miltiorrhiza) and honghua(Carthamus tinctorius) were traditional herb pair with promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis actions, in China. Both were widely used to treat cardiovascular diseases (CVD) for hundreds years, especially shown definite advantage in the treatment of ischemic heart disease (IHD). However, the mechanism of danshen-honghua herb pair (DHHP) in the treatment of IHD was still unclear. This study was focused on examining the effects and possible mechanisms of DHHP in rats with acute myocardial ischemia induced by isoproterenol (ISO). The results suggested that DHHP significantly ameliorated the myocardial tissue abnormalities, notablely inhibited the elevation of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatinekinase isoenzyme (CK-MB) and cardiac troponin T (CTn-T) in plasma, obviously decreased the plasma levels of Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNF-α), outstandingly inhibited the reduction of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) caused by ISO, significantly inhibited the high expression of Bcl-2 assaciated X protein (Bax) and nuclear transcriptionfactor-κBP65 (NF-κBP65) protein, significantly induced the low expression of B-cell lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2) protein in acute myocardial ischemia rats. DHHP can obviously ameliorate hemodynamic parameters. In summary, DHHP can significantly improve myocardial ischemia in acute myocardial ischemia model rats caused by ISO. Anti-free radicals, anti-peroxidation, inhibition of cell apoptosis and anti- inflammation maybe are the potential mechanisms of DHHP anti-myocardial ischemia in acute myocardial ischemia rats in duced by ISO.

Wanting to maximize the positive and minimize the negative: implications for mixed affective experience in American and Chinese contexts.

Previous studies have demonstrated that European Americans have fewer mixed affective experiences (i.e., are less likely to experience the bad with the good) compared with Chinese. In this article, we argue that these cultural differences are due to "ideal affect," or how people ideally want to feel. Specifically, we predict that people from individualistic cultures want to maximize positive and minimize negative affect more than people from collectivistic cultures, and as a result, they are less likely to actually experience mixed emotions (reflected by a more negative within-person correlation between actual positive and negative affect). We find support for this prediction in 2 experience sampling studies conducted in the United States and China (Studies 1 and 2). In addition, we demonstrate that ideal affect is a distinct construct from dialectical view of the self, which has also been related to mixed affective experience (Study 3). Finally, in Study 4, we demonstrate that experimentally manipulating the desire to maximize the positive and minimize the negative alters participants' actual experience of mixed emotions during a pleasant (but not unpleasant or combined pleasant and unpleasant) TV clip in the United States and Hong Kong. Together, these findings suggest that across cultures, how people want to feel shapes how they actually feel, particularly people's experiences of mixed affect.