Effects of tongxinluo on the myocardial inflammatory reaction and expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in rats with myocardial infarction / 中国中西医结合杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of Tongxinluo (TXL) on myocardial inflammatory reaction and expression of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in rats with myocardial infarction (MI).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The rat MI model was established by left anterior descending coronary artery ligation. Experimental rats were randomly divided into 3 groups the sham operated group, the MI control group and the TXL group (treated by 2.0 g/ kg/day). Conditions of inflammatory cellular infiltration in the infarcted and non-infarcted zone were observed at 1, 2 and 4 weeks after MI with histopathological methods, and the expression of TNF-alpha was detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blot.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Obvious inflammatory cellular infiltration revealed in both infarcted and non-infarcted zone of model rats at 1-2 weeks after MI, it faded away gradually 4 weeks after MI, while the TNF-alpha expression increased continuously after MI. Compared with the MI control, the infiltration was milder and TNF-alpha expression was lower in the TXL group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>TXL displays its anti-inflammatory action by way of attenuating the myocardial inflammatory reaction and suppressing the expression of inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha in MI rats.</p>