Paeonol and Paeoniflorin, the Main Active Principles of Paeonia albiflora, Protect the Heart from Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rats

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of paeoniflorin (PF) and paeonol (PN), the main active compounds of the Paeonia albiflora Pallas, on myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (I/R)-induced injury in Sprague-Dawley rats in vivo. Under anesthesia, the rats were subjected to 25 min of ischemia by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) followed by 6 h (Western blot analysis) or 24 h (hemodynamics and infarct size) of reperfusion. When the infarct size was measured as the percentage of the area at risk, both PF (25.0 % ± 7.0 %) and PN (24.1 % ± 5.5 %) significantly (P < 0.05) reduced it compared to I/R control (54.8 % ± 2.6 %). Administration of 10 mg/kg PF or PN 1 h prior to I/R injury also resulted in a significant improvement of the hemodynamic parameters. Furthermore, both PF and PN decreased the caspase-3 and Bax expressions but up-regulated Bcl-2 in the left ventricles. The results show that both PF and PN reduced myocardial damage in rat through protection from apoptosis, suggesting that Paeonia albiflora Pallas might be useful in treating myocardial infarction.

Abbreviations

AAR:area at risk

ANOVA:analysis of variance

DBP:diastolic blood pressure

HR:heart rate

ICAM:intercellular adhesion molecule

JNK:c-Jun N-terminal kinase

LAD:left anterior descending coronary artery

LV:left ventricle

LVSP:left ventricle systolic pressure

LVDP:left ventricle developed pressure

LVEDP:left ventricle end-diastolic pressure

MAP:mean arterial pressure

MAPK:mitogen-activated protein kinase

NF-κB:nuclear factor kappa B

SBP:systolic blood pressure

SDS:sodium dodecyl sulfate

PF:paeoniflorin

PN:paeonol

PVDF:polyvinylidene difluoride

TBS-T:Tris-buffered saline/Tween 20

TNF:tumor necrosis factor

VCAM:vascular cell adhesion molecule

Key words

Ischemia-reperfusion injury - apoptosis - Paeoniaceae - paeoniflorin - paeonol - Paeonia albiflora Pallas - rat

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1 These authors are equally contributed to this work