Abstract
Vasomotor dysfunction is one of the key pathological aspects of shock and heart failure (HF). Shenfu injection (SFI) has been widely used for the treatment of shock and HF in China. Pharmacological studies have suggested that SFI can reduce peripheral circulation resistance and improve microcirculation. However, whether it has a regulatory effect on macrovascular has not been elucidated. In this study, we used thoracic aorta rings isolated from Wistar rats and the human umbilical vein cell line (EA.hy926) to explore the vasodilative activity of SFI and its potential mechanisms. The relaxation due to SFI was measured after pre-treatment with selective soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) inhibitor or cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor and compared with the vasodilation effect of SFI only treated with norepinephrine (NE). The contents of NO, endothelin-1 (ET-1), endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), COX-1, 6-K-PGF1α, and caveolin-1 were evaluated respectively. Additionally, the level of eNOS mRNA and total eNOS and its phosphorylation were studied to investigate the potential mechanisms involved. Experimental results showed that SFI markedly attenuated NE-induced vasoconstriction but that this effect was significantly eliminated after pre-incubation with the selective sGC inhibitor 1-H-[1, 2, 4] oxadiazolo [4, 3-α] quinoxaline-1-one (ODQ), instead of the COX inhibitor indomethacin (INDO). SFI significantly increased the eNOS content and up-regulated the eNOS mRNA expression, while it did not affect the content of COX-1 and 6-K-PGF1α. SFI also markedly increased NO content but significantly reduced the content of ET-1 and caveolin-1 in the cell supernatant. Furthermore, it promoted the expression of total eNOS and the phosphorylation of eNOS at serine (Ser) 1177 but inhibited the phosphorylation at threonine (Thr) 495, which was significantly reversed by PI3K-specific inhibitor LY294002. In conclusion, our study showed the vasodilation effect of SFI in thoracic aorta is mediated entirely by enhancing eNOS activity through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway, providing novel knowledge on the effect of SFI on shock and HF for future clinical applications.
Highlights
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is currently the leading cause of death, and around 17.5 million people died of the disease worldwide in 2015, accounting for 31% of deaths in the whole world (Mendis et al, 2015)
The results showed that Shenfu injection (SFI) (1, 2, and 10 ml/ml) markedly attenuated NEinduced vasoconstriction compared with vasoconstriction in control rat aortas but that this effect was significantly eliminated after pre-incubation with ODQ instead of INDO (Figure 1)
We further explore the vasodilatation pathways of SFI on the molecular biological level. endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and COX-1 are the key enzymes in the nitric oxide (NO) pathway and prostacyclin pathway, respectively. eNOS catalyzes the generation of NO from L-arginine and promotes the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostacyclin (Moncada et al, 1991)
Summary
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is currently the leading cause of death, and around 17.5 million people died of the disease worldwide in 2015, accounting for 31% of deaths in the whole world (Mendis et al, 2015). Traditional Chinese medicine and its compound may have advantages in treating CVD owing to its multi-component, multi-target, multi-effect features (Dong et al, 2017; Li et al, 2019). A. Mey) and Fuzi (the lateral root of Aconitum carmichaeli Debx) (Zhang, 2016). Mey) and Fuzi (the lateral root of Aconitum carmichaeli Debx) (Zhang, 2016) It is approved by the Chinese State Food and Drug Administration (medicine manufacturing approval number: Z51020664) and has been widely used in the treatment of patients with shock and heart failure (HF) in China (Huang et al, 2019; Wang et al, 2019). SFI can dilate the coronary through promoting NO release (Li et al, 2014) and effectively reduce the damage of vascular endothelial cells (VECs) (Huang et al, 2011)
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