Inhibition of Aortic Intimal Hyperplasia and Vascular Smooth Muscle Proliferation and Extracellular Matrix Protein Expressions by Astragalus-Angelica Combination.

Huifang Yan,Changqing Deng,Jiahuan Zhu,Hao Xu,Xiwei Peng

doi:10.1155/2018/1508637

Abstract

VSMC proliferation and ECM deposition always resulted in intimal hyperplasia. Astragalus–Angelica combination has a protective effect on the cardiovascular system. The inhibition effect of different Astragalus–Angelica combination on the hyperplastic intima after vascular balloon injury in rats was investigated in this study. Astragalus–Angelica combination can inhibit the intima hyperplasia after balloon injury, in which a 1:1 ratio shows excellent results. Astragalus–Angelica combination can enhance the expression of smooth muscle α-actin (SMа-actin) and inhibit the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), cyclin D1, cyclin E, collagen I (Col-I), fibronectin (FN), and matrix metallopeptidase-9 (MMP-9) in hyperplastic intima, suggesting that Astragalus–Angelica combination can inhibit the intimal hyperplasia of blood vessels in rats. The mechanism is related to the inhibition of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway activation and thereby inhibits the phenotypic transformation and cell proliferation of VSMCs and thus inhibits the extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition of vascular wall during intimal hyperplasia.

Highlights

Astragalus and Angelica are important herbs of traditional Chinese medicine that are often used in combination for the treatment of many types of cardiovascular diseases
The results show that there were no obvious effects on vascular intimal hyperplasia of single Astragalus group and Astragalus–Angelica 2:1 group, and there were certain antivascular intimal hyperplasia effect of single Angelica group, Astragalus–Angelica 1:2, Astragalus–Angelica 1:5, and Astragalus–Angelica 5:1, and the strongest antivascular intimal hyperplasia effect was with Astragalus–Angelica 1:1
Cyclin D1 and cyclin E play a key role in the regulation of cell cycle G0/G1 and Gl/S transformation, determining whether the cell is transformed from nonproliferative state to proliferative state [26].This study showed that the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), cyclin D1, and cyclin E increased in the intimal hyperplasia of the rat vascular injury model, indicating that the proliferation of the cells in the intima was enhanced after the vascular damage

Summary

Introduction

Astragalus and Angelica are important herbs of traditional Chinese medicine that are often used in combination for the treatment of many types of cardiovascular diseases. The most popular combination of Astragalus and Angelica is Dangguibuxuetang (Danggui Buxue Tang, DBT), which was created in 1247 by Li Dongyuan. Studies showed that the Astragalus–Angelica combination has the effect of promoting hematopoiesis [1], and has a cardiovascular protective effect [2]. The serum containing Astragalus–Angelica combination decoction can protect the vascular endothelium by promoting the function of endothelial progenitor cells, and the effect is related to the regulation of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway [3]. Inhibiting the proliferation of VSMCs after vascular endothelial injury and inhibiting the synthesis of ECM became important measures to attenuate the intimal hyperplasia [5]. Our study takes antiproliferation of VSMCs and antisynthesis of ECM as the breakthrough point and uses rat vascular intimal hyperplasia as a model to study on the inhibitory effect of the Astragalus–Angelica combination on vascular intimal hyperplasia

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion