[Experimental studies on improving heart preservation effect of Astragalus saponins].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of heart preservation of Astragalus saponins (AS) in modified Euro-Collins solution (mEC) containing AS. METHODS: Wistar rats were randomly divided into mEC and AS group. After preserving isolated rat hearts 6 hours by simple cold storage with mEC and mEC containing AS respectively, Langendorff's isolated rat heart model was used to reperfuse for 30 minutes to study cardiac function after preservation and the effect of preventing oxygen free radical injury. RESULTS: To compare AS group with mEC group, cardiac function and coronary flow of the hearts after preservation were better than mEC group (P < 0.05), in AS group the water content of myocardium was decreased very significantly (P < 0.01), myocardial lactate dehydrogenase and creatine phosphokinase release were reduced greatly (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01), myocardial superoxide dismutase activity was increased very significantly (P < 0.01) and the content of lipid peroxide was decreased significantly (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: AS could improve the effect of heart preservation of mEC solution, its mechanism might be associated with the effect of negative contractile strength and preventing oxygen free radical injury.

[Morphometric investigation on hypoxic structural remodeling of intraacinar pulmonary arteries].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the inhibitory effects of Radix Astragali (RA) on hypoxic structural remodeling of intraacinar pulmonary arteries (IAPA) and pulmonary hypertension (PHT). METHOD: 60 rats were divided into H (hypoxia) group (n = 20 rats) H + RA group (n = 20) and normal control (C) group (n = 20). The rats of H group and H + RA group were fed in hypoxic environment under normal atmospheric pressure (10% O2, 10 hours/day). On the 15th and 30th day of hypoxia, right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) and right ventricle hypertrophy index (RVHI) were measured and pulmonary vessel changes were studied under light and electron microscope with morphometric analysis. RESULT: Compared with H + RA group on 30th day, RVSP in H was 1.8 time as high as that of H + RA(P < 0.05); RVHI in H was 1.3 time as high as that of H + RA (P < 0.05); the media thickness of IAPA in H was 2.3 time as high as that of H + RA (P < 0.05); the density of adventitial fibroblasts of IAPA was 13.1 +/- 0.3 (H) and 7.6 +/- 0.2 (H + RA) (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Preserving the IAPA wall cells and dilating IAPA by RA may play an important role in inhibiting remodeling of IAPA and PTH.

The inhibitory effects of Radix Astragali on hypoxic pulmonary hypertension of rats.

OBJECTIVE: To observe the inhibitory effects of Radix Astragali (RA) on hypoxic structural remodeling of intraacinar pulmonary arteries (IAPA) and pulmonary hypertension (PHT). METHODS: Sixty rats were divided into three groups: hypoxia group, hypoxia + RA group and normal control group. The rats of hypoxia group and hypoxia + RA group were fed in hypoxic environment under normal atmospheric pressure (10% O2, 10 h/day). On the 15th and 30th day of hypoxia, right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) and right ventricle hypertrophy index (RVHI) were measured and pulmonary vessel changes were studied under light and electron microscope and with morphometric analysis. RESULTS: Compared with the result of hypoxia + RA group, RA could relieve IAPA wall cell injuries and dilate the constricted IAPA induced by hypoxia. RA could also inhibit hypertrophic changes in the tunica media and proliferation of adventitial cells of the IAPA and muscularization of nonmuscular arteries. CONCLUSION: By preserving the IAPA wall cells and dilating IAPA, RA may play an important role in inhibiting the remodeling of IAPA and preventing PHT.

[Therapeutic effect of radix Astragali on hypoxia pulmonary hypertension in rats].

Radix Astragali could inhibit the type III collagen deposition, smooth muscle cell proliferation in IAPA, and increase the tolerance of myocardium to hypoxia in rats.

[The inhibitory effects of Radix Astragali on hypoxic pulmonary hypertension of rats].

The inhibitory effects of Radix Astragali (RA) on hypoxic structural remodeling of intra-acinar pulmonary arteries (IAPA) and pulmonary hypertension (PHT) were studied in rats, which were fed in hypoxic environment under normal atmospheric pressure (10% O2 10 hours/day). 60 rats were divided into 3 groups; hypoxia group, hypoxia+RA group and control group. On the 15th and 30th day of hypoxia, right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) and right ventricle hypertrophy index (RVHI) were measured and pulmonary vessel changes were studies under light and electronic microscopes and morphometric analysis. Compared with the hypoxia+RA group, RA could prevent IAPA wall cell damage and dilate the constricted IPIA induced by hypoxia. RA could also inhibit hypertrophic changes in the tunica media and proliferation of adventitial cells of the IAPA and muscularization of non-muscular arteries. Therefore, preserving the IAPA wall cells and dilating IAPA by RA may play an important role in inhibiting structural remodeling of IAPA and pulmonary hypertension.

[Experimental studies on inhibitory effects of radix Peucedani on hypoxic pulmonary hypertension in rats].

Light microscopic and morphometric methods along with the measurement of right ventricular systolic pressure (RVSP) and right ventricle hypertrophy index (RBHI) were performed by the authors in studying the inhibitory effects of Radix Peucedani (RP) on structural remodeling of intraacinar pulmonary arteries (IAPA) and pulmonary hypertension (PHT) in hypoxic rats. The results showed that, RP could not only antagonize IAPA contraction caused by hypoxia and lower the resistance of pulmonary circulation, inhibit the cell proliferation and hypertrophy of adventitial cells of pulmonary artery, but also reverse the change in structure and function of pulmonary artery. It suggests that RA plays a key role in inhibiting hypoxic structural remodeling of IAPA and pulmonary hypertension.

Liver endogenous antioxidant defenses in mice fed AIN-76A diet and infected with murine AIDS.

The effects of murine AIDS infection on endogenous antioxidant defenses in mice fed the AIN-76A liquid diet were investigated. C57BL/6 female mice were divided into 2 groups: one group was injected interperitoneally with LP-BM5 murine retrovirus (MAIDS) stock, and the other group served as the non-infected control. Two weeks after the infection, the mice were killed and livers were excised for biochemical analysis of the antioxidant defenses. Liver reduced glutathione (GSH) levels and activities of both cytosolic superoxide dismutase (SOD) and mitochondrial SOD were significantly depressed by MAIDS infection. Activities of glutathione reductase (GR) selenium (Se)-dependent glutathione peroxidase (GPx), catalase and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) toward 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) were not affected by MAIDS infection. A previous study by this laboratory using the Lieber-DeCarli (L-D) all purpose liquid diet caused a decline in total SOD activity and GPx activity, but not GSH levels. The results suggest that MAIDS infection depresses liver antioxidant defenses; however, MAIDS infection of mice fed the AID-76A liquid diet depresses different liver antioxidant defense parameters when compared to those of the mice fed the L-D all purpose liquid diet.

The inhibitory effect of radix Salviae miltiorrhizae on hypoxic structural remodeling of intra-acinar pulmonary arteries.

The inhibitory effect of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae (RSM) on hypoxic structural remodeling of intra-acinar pulmonary arteries (IAPA) was observed by light and electron microscopy and morphometry. It was found that RSM can not only dilate IAPA and relieve the hypoxic injuries to endothelia cells, but also inhibit the active muscularization of IAPA in the hypoxic animals, suggesting that RSM plays a very important role in inhibiting structural remodeling of IAPA and pulmonary hypertension.