AIM: To observe the effect of Shenmai injection on the acute myocardial ischemia/ reperfusion injury in rats. METHODS: The left-anterior coronary artery was ligated for 10 minutes and then loosed for 15 minutes to establish the animal model of acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury. During the process,electrocardiogram was traced continuously to observe the arrhythmia caused by reperfusion. The levels of SOD,MDA,Na +,K +-ATPase and Ca 2+ -ATPase in ventricular myocardium were measured. The mitochondria was observed through electron microscope. RESULTS: Shenmai injection decreased the incidence of arrhythmia caused by reperfusion and shortened its duration. Shenmai injection improved the activity of SOD,Na +,K +-ATPase and Ca 2+ -ATPase,decreased the content of MDA in myocardium and relieved the injury of mitochondria. CONCLUSION: Shenmai injection had a protective effect on acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion injury in rats. The mechanism may be related to relieving the injury caused by oxygen free radical and calcium overload. [

AIM: To study the protective effects of Shenmai injection, a Chinese medicine, on angiotensin Ⅱ (AngⅡ)-induced rat cardiomyocyte apoptosis in vitro and the probable mechanism. METHODS: Cultured cardiomyocytes from neonatal rats were stimulated with AngⅡ. Cell viability were measured by MTT, and apoptosis was evaluated suing Hoethst33258 fluorescent dye staining and flow cytometry. Fluo-3/AM was used to test the change in intracellular free calcium. RESULTS: It was found that incubation with AngⅡ (10 -7 mol/L) for 48 h increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis, Shenmai injection (0 5 g/L, 1 0 g/L) inceased myocyte viability ( P

AIM: To further elucidate the mechanism underlying the protective effect of Chinese herb Fu Sheng powder on vascular dementia. METHODS: Primary passage of neural cells of new born rats were subjected to the ischemia-reperfusion-like injury of hypoxia plus glucose deprivation followed by reoxygenation plus glucose, and the effect of “Fu-Sheng powder” on neural cells was examined. RESULTS: Both 5 hours of “ischemia” and 5 hours of “ischemia” plus 5 hours of “reperfusion” led to severe injury to neural cells, the formation of MDA and intracellular calcium concentration increased significantly, however, the activities of SOD and fluidity of neurons decreased significantly. It was also observed that Fu-Sheng powder could significantly alleviate this injury. CONCLUSION: Fu-Sheng powder had direct protective effect on neurons subjected to iscehmia-reperfusion-likeinjury, which might be one of the mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effect on vascular dementia. [