The Effect and Mechanism of Action of Danhong Injection on Lipid Peroxidation and Endothelial Dysfunction Coronary Heart Disease: An Animal Study

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine therapeutic effects of Danhong injection (DHI) on coronary heart disease (CHD) and determine the mechanism of these effects. Methods: A total of 20 Sprague-Dawley (SD) provide in full on first mention rats divided into control, CHD, DHI-0.5 mL/kg and DHI-2 mL/kg groups with, 5 rats in each group the minimum number to carry out statistical tests is 6, the authors are advised to add more rats to each group. CHD were effected by injecting pituitrin (30 U/kg) for three consecutive days, and CHD rats were injected with 0.5 mL/kg or 2 mL/kg DHI daily. After 4-week treatment, echocardiography was performed to observe the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end-diastolic dimension (LVEDD), and left ventricular end-systolic dimension (LVESD) in rats. The serum of rats was collected for measuring the levels of lipid metabolism-related indicators oxidation-related factors, myocardial injury markers and endothelial function-related indicators. Additionally, the expression of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway-related proteins in the heart tissues was revealed by western blot. Results: There was a significant drop in LVESD and LVEDD and a significant rise in LVEF after DHI intervention for CHD rats. Besides, DHI also significantly reduced the serum level of Triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), up-regulated high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and lowered the level of creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), malondialdehyde (MDA), and endothelin-1 (ET-1), and up-regulated glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase (CAT), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and the level of nitric oxide (NO) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in CHD rats. Moreover, DHI significantly reduced phosphorylated-protein 38 (p-p38) and phosphorylated-c-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK) protein level and inhibited the activity of MAPK pathway in the heart tissues of rats. Conclusions: DHI treatment showed efficacy in alleviating endothelial dysfunction and lipid peroxidation and this effect is probably achieved through MAPK pathway.