[Effects of astragalus and its active ingredients on ischemia reperfusion injury in isolated guinea-pig heart].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of astragalus (AST) , total flavone of astragalus (TFA), total saponins of astragalus (TSA) and astragalus polysaccharides (APS) on ischemia/reperfusion (40 min/60 min) injury in isolated guinea-pig heart. METHODS: Isolated guinea-pig hearts underwent ischemia, then followed by K-H perfusion (I/R group), AST (60 mg/L),AST (60 mg/L), TFA (60 mg/L), TSA (60 mg/L) and APS (60 mg/L) perfusion (n = 6 each).Isolated hearts without ischemia serve as control group (n = 6). Activity of lactate dehydrogenas (LDH) and creatine kinase (CK) in effluent were measured.Infarct size, myocardial superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and malondiadehyde (MDA) contents were also determined. RESULTS: Compared to control hearts, heart rate, coronary flow and myocardial superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were significantly reduced, while LDH and CK in effluent as well as myocardial MDA were significantly increased in the I/R hearts during reperfusion (all P < 0.05), these changes could be partly reversed by AST and TFA perfusion.Infarct size was also significantly reduced in AST (11.9 ± 2.03) % and TFA (13.31 ± 1.17) % treated hearts compared to that in I/R group (18.9 ± 2.27) % (all P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that AST and TFA could attenuate I/R injury in isolated guinea-pig heart possibly through enhancing the activity of SOD and reducing lipid peroxidation.