Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of supplementing qi and activating blood circulation herbs on the expressions of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM-1) in ischemic myocardium of rats with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Acute myocardial infarction (AMI control) of male Sprague-Dawley rats was established by ligating left anterior descending coronary artery. Rats with AMI were randomly divided into 6 groups, including AMI control, activating blood circulation herbs (blood group), supplementing qi herbs (qi group), supplementing qi herbs/activating blood circulation herbs 1:2 (1:2 group), supplementing qi herbs/activating blood circulation herbs 2:1 (2:1 group) and Tongxinluo capsule groups (TXL group), and a sham operation group was set up as negative control group. The herbs were administrated on the second day after myocardial infarction with a therapeutic course of 4 weeks, and the bFGF and PECAM-1 expressions in the myocardial area were tested by immune histochemical methods at 1, 2 and 4 weeks. The supplementing qi and activating blood circulation herbs can promote the expression of bFGF and PECAM-1 in myocardial cells, thus promoting the formation of microvasculature in myocardial ischemia and improving blood supply to the ischemic myocardium. Supplementing qi and activating blood circulation herbs increase the expression of angiogenic factors; this may be their mechanism of angiogenesis.

Key words: Myocardial ischemia, supplementing qi and activating blood circulation herbs, basic fibroblast growth factor, platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule, left ventricular mass index (LVMI).