BACKGROUND: One of important mechanisms underlying myocardial fibrosis is that transforming growth factor β1(TGF-β1) stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of cardiac fibroblasts via Smads signaling pathway.Previous studies have confirmed that tanshinone ⅡA can effectively inhibit myocardial fibrosis.But whether blockage of TGF-β1/Smads signaling pathway is involved in this process remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of tanshinone ⅡA on TGF-β1 signal transduction in rat cardiac fibroblasts. METHODS: Neonatal rat cardiac fibroblasts were harvested by trypsin digestion and differential attachment and treated with 5 μg/L TGF-βI and different concentrations of tanshinone Ⅱ A(106,10-5 and 10-4 mol/L).At 6,12,and 24 hours after TGF-β1 application,fibronectin expression was detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis.At 15,30,60,and 120 minutes after TGF-β1 application,Smads protein expression was determined by Western blot analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Fibronectin mRNA and protein expression began to increase at 6 hours after TGF-β1 application and was 1.3 and 1.8 times higher than initial level,respectively(P < 0.01),at 24 hours after TGF-β1 application.Phosphorylated Smad2/3 protein expression began to increase at 15 minutes after TGF-β1 application,peaked at 1 hour,decreased at 2 hours,but it was still 3.9 times higher than initial level(P < 0.01).Tanshinone ⅡA(10-5 and 10-4 mol/L)pretreatment downregulated fibronectin and phosphorylated Smad2/3 expression(P < 0.05 or P < 0.01)in a dose-dependent manner.These findings demonstrate that TGF-β1 induced fibronectin protein and mRNA expression and Smad2/3 protein expression in a time-dependent manner.Tanshinone ⅡA against myocardial fibrosis was likely related to its inhibition of TGF-β1-induced Smad2/3 phosphorylation and blockage of TGF-β1/Smads signaling pathways within cardiac fibroblasts.

BACKGROUND: As a reliable marker of inflammation, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) plays an important role in atherogenesis. Recently, it is assumed in researches of recent years that chronic inflammation mediated by ICAM-1 is involved in hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy probably, but there are still some objections reported. Tanshinone ⅡA is a kind of liposoluble extract from danshen(Radix Salviae Mitiorrhizae) . It is verified in animal experiment that it can inhibit hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between ICAM-1 and hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy and the effect of tanshinone ⅡA on expression of ICAM-1.DESIGN:A randomized controlled observation was designed.SETTING: Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.MATERIALS: The experiment was performed in the Laboratory of Emergency Department of Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from October 2002 to January 2004. Ten male WKY rats(10 WKY rats) of 12-week-old and 20 rats with spontaneous hypertension(20 SHR rats) were employed and divided into the control group(10 WKY rats), hypertension group(10 SHR rats) and tanshinone ⅡA group(10 SHR rats).injected from caudal vein for treatment and distilled water at the same dose was injected in the other two groups. Twelve weeks later, the rats were sacrificed and myocardium was collected for specimen preparation. Haematoxylin and eosin(HE) staining, VG staining, immunocytochemical staining and myocardial ED1 labeling were applied to determine myocardial macrophage infiltration degree. The reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) were used to determine the expressions of ICAM-1 mRNA and protein.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Degree of macrophages infiltration and the expressions of ICAM-1 mRNA and protein in myocardium in each group.RESULTS: Twelve SHR and 10 WKY rats were employed in the experiment pared with the control group, ICAM-1 mRNA and protein expressions in hypertrophic myocardium were increased significantly in hypertension group (0.176±0.087,0.537±0.195;0.104±0.011,0.173±0.027, P ＜0.01or P ＜ 0.05) . Infiltration of macrophage was significant(0. 62 ±0.07,non Ⅱ A group, the expressions of ICAM-1 mRNA and protein were decreased significantly(0. 537 ±0. 195, 0.291 ±0. 106; 0. 173 ±0.027, 0. 125± 0. 014, P ＜ 0.01 or P ＜ 0. 05); the amount of macrophages infiltration was decreased(1.85 ±0. 23, 1.16 ±0. 17, P ＜ 0.05) and the degree of cardiomyocytic hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis was remarkably relieved.CONCLUSION: Excessive expression of myocardial ICAM-1 and its mediated inflammatory cellular infiltration plays an important role in hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy. The inhibition of tanshinone ⅡA on left ventricular hypertrophy may be contributed to decreased expression of ICAM-1 and alleviated inflammatory cellular infiltration in myocardium.

BACKGROUND: Preactivation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCS) is one of the most important eerly events and facilitating factor for the formation of atherosclerosis. Tanshinone is a lipolytic component extracted from traditional Chinese medicine of denshen, it has definite anti-atherosclerotic effect.OBJECTTVE: To analyze whether PBMCS preactivation existed at early essential hypertension, and investigate the effects of tanshinone on inhibiting the PBMCS activation cultured in vitro by detecting the adhesion and excretory activities of PBMCS.DESTGN: A case-controlled analysis.SETTING: Department of Emergency and Research Room of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology.PARTTCTPANTS: Thirty patients with untreated essential hypertension or with withdrawal from antihypertensives for at least 2 weeks were selected from the Department of Cardiology, Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College,Huazhong University of Science and Technology from January 2003 to October 2004, including 16 males and 14 females, aged (44.6±7.4) years, body mass index of (26.2±4.5) kg/m2, average disease course of (38.5±16.9) months.Informed contents were obtained from all the subjects. Their hypertension was grade Ⅰ-Ⅱ according to the diagnostic standards for hypertension by WHO/ISH in 1999. Secondary hypertension, organic heart disease, hyperglyceridemia,diabetes mellitus, liver and kidney dysfunction, heart, brain, kidney, vessel and other target damaged induced by infection and other clinical conditions and hypertension were excluded by history, physical examination and assistant examination.Another 30 healthy physical examinees with normal blood pressure were enrolled as the normal control group. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (Species Reserving Center of Wuhan University); Tanshinone injection (Yaan Sanjiu Pharmaceutical, Co., Ltd., batch number: 020724);METHODS: ① Venous blood samples (4.0-5.0 mL) were drawn from all the subjects, and mononuclear cells were separated by means of Ficoll-Hypaque density gradient centrifugation and plastic adhesion, then incubated at 37 ℃ for 40-60 minutes, and the adherent cells were the PBMCS. These cells (viability ＞ 95%, Trypan blue staining) had the characteristics of mononuclear cells (Wright staining). The newly separated adherent PBMCS were resuspended, and then inoculated to the 24-well plate (4×107 L-1). There were 3 wells for each sample: the first was for basic excretion, the second for angiotensin Ⅱ stimulation, and the third for tanshinone pretreatment. The PBMCS were co-incubated with tanshinone for 30 minutes before angiotensin Ⅱ stimulation. The terminal concentration was 1×10-8 mol/L and 1×10-8 g/L for angiotensin Ⅱ andtanshinone respectively, and that of PBMCS was 2×107 L-1. The cells were cultured in the incubator (CO2 of 0.05 in volume fraction) at 37 ℃ for 24 hours, then the supernatant and cell ingredients were collected respectively. ② The PBMCS suspension was preparedl, and the cellular density was adjusted to 2.5×109 L-1. The human umbilical vein endothelial cells were cultured on the 24-well plate with M199 medium containing fetal bovine serum (0.1 in volume fraction), and spread to monolayer after the cells entered the logarithm phase. Each well was added with PBMCS suspension (100 μL), incubated at 37 ℃ for 2 and 4 hours respectively. The unadherent cells were removed, and the adherent ones were counted after fixed with 20 g/L glutaral, 40 visual sights were counted for each well under high power microscope, and the average value was used. ③ The double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to determine the concentrations of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in supernatant of PBMCS, and the expressions of their mRNA.MATN OUTCOME MEASURES: ① Changes of PBMCS adhesion activity; ② Concentrations of cytokines and their mRNA expressions in supernatant of PBMCS.RESULTS: ① At 2 and 4 hours of inoculation, the numbers of PBMCS adhered to endothelial cells under basic conditions were similar between the hypertension group and normal control group (t =1.153-1.577, P ＞ 0.05); After angiotensin Ⅱ stimulation, the adherent cells were obviously more in the hypertension group than in the normal control group (t =3.842-4.536, P ＜ 0.01); The numbers of the adherent cells were decreased to the same levels after tanshinone pretreatment (t =0.855-1.702, P ＞ 0.05). ②Under basic state, the concentrations of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 in supernatant were all lower in both groups (t =0.981-1.829, P ＞ 0.05); The concentrations of the cytokines after angiotensin Ⅱ stimulation were obviously higher in the hypertension group than in the normal control group (t = 2.442, 5.075, P ＜ 0.01,0.01, 0.05); The concentrations of the cytokines after tanshinone pretreatment were all decreased to different extent, and there were no significant differences (t =1.227-1.940, P ＞ 0.05). Similar changes were observed in the mRNA expressions of the cytokines in PBMCS in the two groups.CONCLUSTON: ① The number of PBMCS adhered to endothelial cells, the concentrations and mRNA expressions of the cytokines under basic state in patients with essential hypertension were at the levels of normal subjects, and they were significantly increased after angiotensin Ⅱ stimulation, suggesting that the PBMCS were at preactivation at early essential hypertension. ② Tanshinone could decrease the adhesion and excretory activities of PBMCS in patients with essential hypertension to the normal levels, it is proved that tanshinone can inhibit the further activation of the preactivated PBMCS, and can prevent the occurrence of atherosclerosis to some extent.

BACKGROUND: Aldosterone is an important pathogenic factor of left ventricular hypertrophy. There has been evidence that the extract of red sage root (a Chinese herb) can intervene the synthesis of aldosterone.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of tanshinone Ⅱ A on expression of genes related to aldosterone synthesis in myocardium. DESIGN:A randomized and controlled trial. SETTING :Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology. MATERIALS:The experiment was performed at the laboratory of Emergency Department, Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College,Huazhong University of Science and Technology from November 2002 to March 2004. Totally 20 male 12-week-old rats with spontaneous hypertension were randomly divided as hypertension group and tanshinone Ⅱ A group. METHODS:Rats in each group were injected tanshinone Ⅱ A or distilled water in the same volume respectively through caudal vein. After 12-week administration,the rats were put to death by decapitation, and the samples of myocardium were prepared. The expressions of CYP11B1mRNA and CYP11B2 mRNA, or myocardial genes related to aldosterone synthesis were examined with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) and referring to the amplification primers of glyceraldehydes 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) gene. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:The levels of CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 mRNA related to aldosterone synthesis in myocardium.RESULTS :Totally 20 rats were involved in the trial and all entered in the final result analysis without any loss of value. ① Quantitative analysis of expression of myocardial CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 genes in rats of two groups: Taking 100bp Plus Ladder as Marker,clear amplified strands could be seen at 440bp,461bp and 336bp sites,DNA sequencing proved they were the encoding gene segments of CYP11B1,YP11B2 and GAPDH. ②Qualitative analysis of expression of myocardial CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 genes in rats of two groups:The expressive levels of CYP11B1 and CYP1 1B2 mRNA contents in tanshinone Ⅱ A group were significantly lower than those in hypertension group (0.924±0.121 vs 1.343±0.132,P ＜ 0.05;1.017±0.119 vs 1.675±0.126,P 0.01). CONCLUSION:Tanshinone Ⅱ A could directly down-regulate the expression of CYP1 1B1 and CYP1 1B2 mRNA, the genes related to aldosterone syn thesis, so that it inhibited the biological synthesis of aldosterone in myocardinm, thus playing a role to resist hypertensive left ventricular hypertrophy.

BACKGROUND:Aldosterone is main pathogenic factor of left ventricular hypertrophy, for which, to inhibit its biosynthesis effectively may prevent and treat hypertension induced by left ventricular hypertrophy.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Tanshinone Ⅱ A on myocardiac aldosterone synthesis and expression of its relevant genic CYP11B1and CYP1 1B2 in spontaneously hypertensive rats(SHR) and explore the possi ble nechanism of Tanshinone Ⅱ A on inhibiting hypertension induced by left ventricular hypertrophy.DESIGN:SHR were employed as the objects in the experiment and WKY rats with normal blood pressure (WKY rats) were employed in the controlgroup. Complete group division and randomized control experiment was designed. Analysis of variance was used for the means comparison among groups.SETTING :Department of Emergency and Institute of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine in Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.MATERIALS :The experiment was performed in the laboratory of Department of Emergency in Tongji Hospital Affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology from January 2003 to February 2004, in which, 10 male WKY rats with normal blood pressure of 12-week-old were employed in the control group and 20 male SHR of 12-week-old were randomized into two groups, named hypertension group and Tanshinone ⅡA group, 10 rats each group.METHODS:In Tanshinone Ⅱ A group, Tanshinone Ⅱ A 1.5 mg/kg was injected abdominally everyday. The distilled water of same volume was injected abdominally in hypertension group and the control group. Twelve weeks after experiment, myocardial specimens were collected after rats sacrificed. Radioimmunoassay was used to determine the contents of aldosteron and angiotensin Ⅱ in myocardial tissue and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to measure mRNA level of CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 genes relevant to aldosterone synthesis.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Contents of aldosterone and angiotensin Ⅱ in myocardial tissue and mRNA expression of CYP11B1 and CYP1 1B2 genes.RESULTS:All of 20 SHR and 10 WKY rats entered result analysis. ① Myocardial aldosterone content of rats in 12 weeks after experiment: that in hypertension group and Tanshinone Ⅱ A group was higher remarkably than that in the control group [(0.056±0.014), (0.031±0.010), (0.018±0.009) ng/g,P ＜ 0.01, 0.05]; that in Tanshione Ⅱ A group was lower remarkably than that in the hypertension group (P ＜ 0.05). ② Myocardial angiotension Ⅱ content of rats in 12 weeks after experiment: that in the hypertension group and Tanshinone ⅡA group was higher remarkably than that in the control group [(0.093±0.016), (0.088±0.024), (0.043±0.012) ng/L, P ＜ 0.01]. ③ Expression of CYP11B1 gene in myocardial tissue of rats in 12 weeks after experiment: that in the hypertension group and Tanshinone Ⅱ A group was higher remarkably than that in the control group (2.774±0.138, 2.533 ±0.127, 1.973±0.102, P ＜ 0.05). ④Expression of CYP11B2 gene in myocardial tissue of rats in 12 weeks after experiment; that in the hypertension group and Tanshinone ⅡA group was higher remarkably than that in the control group (1.573±0.106, 1.024±0.113, 0.786±0.121, P ＜ 0.01,0.05); that in the Tanshinone ⅡA group was lower remarkably than that in the hypertension group (P ＜ 0.05). ⑤The electrophoresis band positions of myocardial CYP11B1 and CYP11B2 as well as RT-PCR products of glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), the consulting gene,were in conformity with the theoretic values.CONCLUSION:The inhibition of Tanshinone Ⅱ A on hypertension induced by left ventricular hypertrophy is probably contributed to its downregulating effect on myocardiac CYP11B2 gene expression relevant to aldosterone synthesis and to its reducing action on local biosynthesis of aldosterone in heart.

This study examined the effect of tanshinone II A (TSN II A) on the cardiac fibrosis induced by transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and the possible mechanisms. Cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from cardiac tissues of neonatal Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by the trypsin digestion and differential adhesion method. The cells were treated with 5 ng/mL TGF-β1 alone or pretreated with TSN II A at different concentrations (10(-5) mol/L, 10(-4) mol/L). Immunocytochemistry was used for cell identification, RT-PCR for detection of the mRNA expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and collagen type I (COL I), Western blotting for detection of the protein expression of Smad7 and Smad3, and immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining for detection of the protein expression of phosphorylated Smad3 (p-Smad3), CTGF and COLI. The results showed that TGF-β1 induced the expression of CTGF, COL I, p-Smad3 and Smad7 in a time-dependent manner. The mRNA expression of CTGF and COL I was significantly increased 24 h after TGF-β1 stimulation (P<0.01 for all). The protein expression of p-Smad3 and Smad7 reached a peak 1 h after TGF-β1 stimulation, much higher than the baseline level (P<0.01 for all). Pretreatment with high concentration of TSN A resulted in a decrease in the expression of p-Smad3, CTGF and COL I (P<0.01). The protein expression of Smad7 was substantially upregulated after pretreatment with two concentrations of TSN II A as compared with that at 2 h post TGF-β1 stimulation (P<0.05 for low concentration of TSN I IA; P<0.01 for high concentration of TSN II A). It was concluded that TSN II A may exert an inhibitory effect on cardiac fibrosis by upregulating the expression of Smad7, suppressing the TGF-β1-induced phosphorylation of Smad3 and partially blocking the TGF-β1-Smads signaling pathway.

Aim To explore new grouping method of clinical pharmacology experiments. Methods Based on the principle of “minimize the unbalanced coefficient”,the sequential balanced coefficient method is to measure the comparability between groups through a very simple unbalanced index. Conclusion This method is simplied compute,convenienced manipulate and strong comparable between groups,which is especially applied to clinical pharmacology experiments.

Objective: To explore the expression level of serum interleukin (IL)-7 in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and analyze the relationship between IL-7 level and prognosis. Methods: A total of 130 ACS patients [ACS group, including 70 cases with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and 60 cases with unstable angina pectoris (UAP)], 33 cases with stable angina pectoris (SAP，SAP group) and 89 healthy subjects (healthy control group) were selected. IL-7 level was measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and compared among all groups. The 130 ACS patients were followed up, and Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between IL-7 level and prognosis. Results: Compared with healthy control group and SAP group, there was significant rise in IL-7 level in UAP group and AMI group [(1.84±0.47) pg/ml, (2.11±0.63) pg/ml vs. (4.87±0.52) pg/ml, (5.15±0.71) pg/ml, P<0.05 or P<0.01]. There were no significant difference in IL-7 level between healthy control group and SAP group, UAP group and AMI group (P>0.05 both); Logistic regression analysis indicated that expression level of serum IL-7 was an independent risk factor for adverse cardiovascular events in ACS patients (OR=1.212, 95%CI:1.061-1.418). Conclusion: Interleukin-7, as an important inflammatory cytokines, its serum level abnormally elevated in patients with acute coronary syndrome, it may have important prognostic value.

Summary: The effects of tanshinone Ⅱ A (TSN) on transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) signal transduction in renal interstitial fibroblasts of rats were studied in order to investigate its mechanism in prevention of renal interstitial fibrosis. Rat renal fibroblasts of the line NRK/49F were cultured in vitro, stimulated with 5 ng/mL TGFβ1 and pretreated with 10-6, 10-5, 10-4 mol/L TSN respectively.The mRNA levels of fibronectin (FN) were examined by RT-PCR. The protein expression of FN and Smads was detected by Western blot. TGFβ1 induced the expression of FN mRNA and Smads in a time-dependent manner in a certain range. Compared with pre-stimulation, the FN mRNA and protein levels were increased by 1.1 times and 1.5 times respectively (P<0,01, P<0.01), and the protein expression of phosphorylated Smad2/3 (p-Smad2/3) increased by 7 times at the end of TGFβ1 stimulation (P<0.01). TSN pretreatment may down-regulate the FN and p-Smad2/3 expression in a dose-dependent manner. 10-6 mol/L TSN pretreatment had no effect on the FN and p-Smad2/3 expression (both P0.05). After pretreatment with 105 and 10-4 mol/L TSN, the FN mRNA levels were decreased by 28.1% and 43.8% respectively (P<0.05, P<0.01), the FN protein levels were decreased by 40% and 44% respectively (P<0.05, P<0.05), and the p-Smad2/3 protein expression were decreased by 40% and 65% respectively (P<0.05, P<0.01). The inhibitory effect of TSN on renal interstitial fibrosis may be related to its blocking effect on TGFβl-Smads signal pathway in renal interstitial fibroblasts.

This study examined the effect of tanshinone II A (TSN II A) on the cardiac fibrosis induced by transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1) and the possible mechanisms. Cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from cardiac tissues of neonatal Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by the trypsin digestion and differential adhesion method. The cells were treated with 5 ng/mL TGF-β1 alone or pretreated with TSN II A at different concentrations (10(-5) mol/L, 10(-4) mol/L). Immunocytochemistry was used for cell identification, RT-PCR for detection of the mRNA expression of connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) and collagen type I (COL I), Western blotting for detection of the protein expression of Smad7 and Smad3, and immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence staining for detection of the protein expression of phosphorylated Smad3 (p-Smad3), CTGF and COLI. The results showed that TGF-β1 induced the expression of CTGF, COL I, p-Smad3 and Smad7 in a time-dependent manner. The mRNA expression of CTGF and COL I was significantly increased 24 h after TGF-β1 stimulation (P<0.01 for all). The protein expression of p-Smad3 and Smad7 reached a peak 1 h after TGF-β1 stimulation, much higher than the baseline level (P<0.01 for all). Pretreatment with high concentration of TSN A resulted in a decrease in the expression of p-Smad3, CTGF and COL I (P<0.01). The protein expression of Smad7 was substantially upregulated after pretreatment with two concentrations of TSN II A as compared with that at 2 h post TGF-β1 stimulation (P<0.05 for low concentration of TSN I IA; P<0.01 for high concentration of TSN II A). It was concluded that TSN II A may exert an inhibitory effect on cardiac fibrosis by upregulating the expression of Smad7, suppressing the TGF-β1-induced phosphorylation of Smad3 and partially blocking the TGF-β1-Smads signaling pathway.
Animals ; Diterpenes, Abietane ; pharmacology ; Fibrosis ; metabolism ; Heart ; physiopathology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 ; metabolism