Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen) injection ameliorates iron overload-induced cardiac damage in mice.

The traditional Chinese medicinal herb Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza), first recorded in the "Shen Nong's Herbal Classic", has long been used to treat cardiovascular conditions, although the mechanism(s) underlying its effects remain unclear. Here, an iron dextran injection (50 mg · kg⁻¹ per day) was delivered intraperitoneally to establish a mouse model for investigating the ameliorative effects of Danshen injection (low dose at 3 g · kg⁻¹ per day or high dose at 6 g · kg⁻¹ per day) on iron overload-induced cardiac damage. The iron-chelating agent deferoxamine (100 mg · kg⁻¹ per day) was administered as a positive control. The main constituents of Danshen injection, salvianic acid A (danshensu), protocatechuic aldehyde, and salvianolic acid B, were quantified at concentrations of 2.15, 0.44, and 1.01 mg · mL⁻¹, respectively, using HPLC with UV detection. Danshen injection significantly lowered cardiac iron deposition and the concentration of the lipid oxidation product malondialdehyde, as well as improved cardiac superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase levels in iron-overloaded mice. Serum levels of creatine kinase, creatine kinase isoenzyme, and lactate dehydrogenase in the iron-overloaded mice were significantly elevated (up to ~ 160 %), whereas their activities were downregulated by Danshen injection by 25 ~ 35 % at the high dose and by ~ 20 % at the low dose. Morphological changes of cardiac tissue analyzed by hematoxylin and eosin staining indicated that lesions induced by iron overload could be ameliorated by Danshen injection dose-dependently. Altogether, these results illustrated that the protective effects of Danshen injection were at least in part due to decreased iron deposition and inhibition of lipid peroxidation.

[Effect of Preparation Methods on Phosphate Adsorption by Iron-Titanium Binary Oxide: Coprecipitation and Physical Mixing].

To investigate the effect of preparation methods on surface characteristics and adsorption properties of the formed metal composite oxides, two kinds of iron-titanium binary oxides were synthesized by a coprecipitation method or a physical mixing method and were denoted as CFe-Ti and MFe-Ti, respectively. The prepared CFe-Ti and MFe-Ti were systematically characterized using SEM, XRD, BET, and FTIR techniques. Their phosphate adsorption behaviors were also studied via batch adsorption experiments. Compared with pure FeOOH and TiO2, CFe-Ti exhibited a looser nanostructure with more pore and surface hydroxyls. Moreover, the CFe-Ti had a high maximal phosphorus adsorption capacity of 40.6 mg·g-1, which is about 1.5 times and 2.4 times as high as that of pure FeOOH (27.2 mg·g-1) and TiO2 (16.7 mg·g-1), respectively. This suggests that an obvious synergistic effect is present in the CFe-Ti system. However, the morphology and structure of MFe-Ti were not significantly different from those of pure FeOOH and TiO2. The maximal adsorption capacity of MFe-Ti was 22.7 mg·g-1, which is obviously lower than that of CFe-Ti and even lower than that of pure FeOOH. Evidently, there is no synergistic effect in the MFe-Ti system. In addition, phosphate adsorption mechanisms at the surface of CFe-Ti and MFe-Ti were the same as those of their component oxides, and chemical adsorption occurred at the surface of the oxides through the formation of inner-sphere complexes. Therefore, the surface characteristics and adsorption properties of the metal composite oxides were closely related to their preparation methods. The coprecipitation method was a simpler and more economical way than the physical mixing method to fabricate a highly effective iron-titanium binary oxide for phosphate adsorption.

Long-term administration of fasudil improves cardiomyopathy in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Inhibition of Rho kinase (ROCK) has been shown to improve diabetic-related disorders. In this study, the cardio-protective effects and potential mechanisms of fasudil, a selective ROCK inhibitor, on diabetic cardiomyopathy were investigated in a streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat model. Eight weeks after diabetes was induced by a single tail vein injection of 60 mg/kg STZ, rats were administered long-term fasudil or captopril as a control over a four-week period. Similar to the effect of captopril, fasudil treatment significantly protected against STZ-induced hemodynamic, histopathologic changes and decreased serum lactate dehydrogenase and creatine phosphokinase. Moreover, fasudil significantly down-regulated ROCK I mRNA expression and ROCK activity, reduced cardiac collagen deposition, and decreased the incidence of apoptosis and ratio of Bax/Bcl-2 protein expression. Additionally, fasudil potently elevated superoxide dismutase activity and suppressed the extent of lipid peroxidation in sera and hearts of diabetic rats. Our findings indicated that long-term treatment with fasudil could improve cardiac dysfunction, attenuate myocardial injury and prevent pathological changes in a rat model of diabetic cardiomyopathy. These effects could be attributed to regulation of antioxidative activities, suppression of myocardial hypertrophy, apoptosis, fibrosis and subsequent cardiac remodeling. These results may help to expand the clinical application of fasudil for diabetic cardiomyopathy.