Effect of Atractylodes macrocephala extract on chronic heart failure in rats

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Atractylodes macrocephala extract (AME) on oxidative stress and hemodynamics in chronic congestive heart failure (CHF) rats. Methods: After Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were successfully establised into CHF, they were randomly divided into normal control group, negative control group, captopril group, as well as 1.4, 2.8 and 5.6 g/kg of AME groups, and treated with drugs for 4 weeks. Hemodynamic function, whole heart weight index, blood creatinine kinase (CK), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), nitric oxide synthase (NOS) were measured. Results: Compared with the normal control group, arterial systolic pressure (SBP)(83.12 +/- 16.21 mmHg), diastolic pressure (DBP, (75.16 +/- 20.18 mmHg), mean arterial pressure (MAP 76.32 +/- 13.43 mmHg), heart rate (HR 353.25 +/- 36.34 beats/min), left ventricular systolic peak (LVSP 101.24 +/- 16.13 mmHg), and left ventricular pressure change rate (dp/dt max) significantly decreased (p < 0.05), while left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP (22.13 +/- 1.57 mmHg), whole heart weight index (2.74 +/- 0.16 mg/g), blood CK (0.93 +/- 0.14 U/mL), MDA (19.13 +/- 2.26 nmol/mL), NO (34.21 +/- 3.16 umol/L), and NOS (42.13 +/- 3.24 U/mL) increased significantly increased in the negative control group (p < 0.05). High dose AME significantly improved hemodynamic function, lowered MDA (8.75 +/- 2.09 nmol/mL) and NO (22.14 +/- 3.27 umol/L) levels (p < 0.05), and also decreased CK (0.57 +/- 0.31 U/mL) and NOS (24.24 +/- 3.38 U/mL) in CHF rats (p < 0.05). Conclusion: AME significantly improve adriamycin-induced chronic congestive heart failure in rats, which could be used for the therapeutic manaement of chronic congestive heart failure in future.