Panax Notoginseng Saponins Inhibits Ventricular Remodeling after Myocardial Infarction in Rats Through Regulating ATF3/MAP2K3/p38 MAPK and NF κ B Pathway.

OBJECTIVE: To explore whether Panax notoginseng saponins (PNS) exhibits heart protective effect in myocardial infarction (MI) rats and to identify the potential signaling pathways involved. METHODS: MI rats induced by ligating the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery were assigned to sham coronary artery ligation or coronary artery ligation. Totally 36 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into sham group (distilled water, n=9), MI group (distilled water, n=9), PNS group (PNS, 40 mg/kg daily, n=9) and fosinopril group (FIP, 1.2 mg/kg daily, n=9) according to a random number table. The left ventricular morphology and function were conducted by echocardiography. Histological alterations were evaluated by the stainings of HE and Masson. The serum levels of C reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) and the ratio of metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and tissue inhibitor of MMP-9 (TIMP-1) were determined by ELISA. The levels of activating transcription factor 3 (ATF3), mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 3 (MAP2K3), p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK), phosphorylation of p38 MAPK (p-p38 MAPK), transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß1), collagen I, nuclear factor kappa B p65 (NFκB p65), phosphorylation of NFκB p65 (p-NFκB p65), and phosphorylation of inhibitory kappa Bα (p-Iκ Bα) in hearts were measured by Western blot and immunohistochemical staining, respectively. RESULTS: PNS improved cardiac function and fibrosis in MI rats (P<0.05). The serum levels of CRP, TNF-α, GDF-15 and the ratio of MMP9/TIMP1 were reversed by PNS in MI rats. The expressions of TGF-ß1, collagen I, MAP2K3, p38 MAPK, p-p38 MAPK, NFκB p65, p-NFκB p65, and p-IκBα were down-regulated, while ATF3 increased with the treatment of PNS (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: PNS may improve cardiac function and fibrosis in MI rats via regulating ATF3/MAP2K3/p38 MAPK and NFκB signaling pathways. These results suggest the potential of PNS in preventing the development of ventricular remodeling in MI rats.

Qidong Yixin Oral Liquid for Viral Myocarditis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of Qidong Yixin (QY) oral liquid in the treatment of viral myocarditis (VMC). METHODS: We searched seven databases for randomized clinical trials on QY for treating VMC. The retrieval period was from database establishment to December 31, 2019. Cochrane risk of bias tool in the Cochrane Handbook was used to assess the methodological quality. Review Manager (RevMan) 5.3 was used to analyze the results. RESULTS: We included 19 studies comprising 2,608 patients, albeit with low methodological quality. Our meta-analysis revealed that combination therapy with QY and western medicine was more effective than western medicine alone (QY vs other Chinese patent medicines: RR = 1.37, 95% Cl: 1.23∼1.52, P < 0.00001; QY + coenzyme Q10 + routine treatment vs coenzyme Q10 + routine treatment: RR = 1.20, 95% Cl: 1.14∼1.27, P < 0.00001; QY + trimetazidine + acyclovir vs trimetazidine + acyclovir: RR = 1.59, 95% Cl: 1.38∼1.83, P < 0.00001; QY + routine treatment vs routine treatment: RR = 1.09, 95% Cl: 1.03∼1.15, P < 0.003). A study on posttreatment myocardial enzyme levels revealed that QY with western medicine downregulated creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB) (QY + antiviral treatment + routine treatment vs antiviral treatment + routine treatment group: MD = -11.28, 95% CI: -13.33∼-9.22, P < 0.00001; QY + routine treatment vs routine treatment: MD = -4.96, 95% CI: -5.56∼-4.32, P < 0.00001), creatine kinase (CK) (MD = -32.10, 95% CI: -35.63∼-28.57, P < 0.00001), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (QY + antiviral treatment + routine treatment vs antiviral treatment + routine treatment: MD = -48.76 95% CI: -58.18∼-39.33, P < 0.00001; QY + routine treatment vs routine treatment: MD = -23.52, 95% CI: -30.10-16.94, P < 0.00001) rather than western medicine alone, with no evidence of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) downregulation on treatment with QY with western medicine (MD = 2.88, 95% CI: -0.95∼6.71, P < 0.00001) in patients. Two studies reported adverse events, indicating that QY is relatively safe. CONCLUSION: Although QY may have potential advantages in treating VMC, they remain unclear owing to the poor methodological quality of most studies. Larger, multicenter, high-quality randomized controlled trials are required to verify the effectiveness of QY.

[Effect of traditional Chinese medicine in attenuating coronary heart disease and main risk factors by regulating gut micro-biota].

Ischemic heart disease has became the world's most common deadly disease, and coronary heart disease(CHD) is the most common type of ischemic heart disease. The pathological mechanism of CHD has not been fully elucidated. In recent years, scientific studies have found that gut micro-biota are closely related to the occurrence and development of CHD, and CHD could be intervened by regulating gut micro-biota because of the correlation between CHD and intermediate metabolite of gut micro-biota. Current intervention strategies mainly include probiotics supplementation, reduction of TMAO and increase of SCFAs, which can achieve the effect of stabilizing plaques, and controlling blood pressure, blood lipids, blood glucose and obesity. Traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) has the multi-component and multi-target effects, which is correlated to its role in the prevention and treatment of CHD. This paper summarizes the domestic and foreign researches on the effect of TCM in attenuating CHD and its main risk factors by regulating gut micro-biota. The article aims to explore the correlation between gut micro-biota and CHD, and propose three main intervention strategies. Furthermore, the research progress of TCM on CHD, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia and obesity is reviewed by the categories of Chinese medicine monomer and compound, in the hope to provide more theoretical basis for TCM therapy on CHD and guidance for further studies in this field.

[CircRNA as a new field in human disease research].

For the characteristics of high stability， high conservation between species， and tissue specificity， circular RNA(circRNA) has been expected to become a new molecular biomarker for the clinical diagnosis， treatment and prognosis， and the potential target for targeted therapy. Study on the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) syndrome includes not only the macro indexes collected by using four traditional methods of diagnosis， but also contains some micro information that can not be achieved by using the four traditional diagnosis methods. The questions such as how to deal with the relationship between the holistic concept of TCM and micro research， and how to solve the contradiction between the fuzziness of syndrome description and the accuracy of microscopic research， need to be considered before the micro research in TCM syndrome. circRNA as a new field of understanding human disease， may provide some ideas for the TCM syndrome research due to its characteristics. Overall， it is necessary to pay attention to explore the molecular level with same syndrome in different diseases and reveal the connotation and essence of syndromes by understanding of circRNA.