Objective To establish the relationship of serum TNF-? and IL-6 contents with myocardial cell apoptosis in the chronic heart failure (CHF)rats,and to explore the therapeutic mechanism of Anxin Granules (AXG)in treating CHF.Methods Fifty female SD rats were randomly divided into five groups:normal control group (A),model group (B),captopril group(C),low-dosage AXG group (D)and high-dosage AXG group (E).CHF models were established by intraperitoneal injection of small-dose of adriamycin,once per week for continuous 6 weeks.Meanwhile,group C was given captopril injection (6.25mgkg-1d-1),and groups D and E received gastric gavage of low-dosage AXG (0.8 gkg-1d-1)and high-dosage AXG (1.6gkg-1d-1)respectively.After 6 weeks of modeling,serum levels of TNF-? and IL-6 of different groups were tested by ELISA,the apoptosis of myocardial cells was tested by TUNEL,and then the apoptosis index(AI)was counted.Results Serum levels of TNF-? and IL-6 were increased in the model group (P