Zhang San-Yin, Chen Gang, Wei Pei-Feng, Huang Xiu-Shen, Dai Yong, Shen Ying-Jun, Chen Shi-Lin, Sun-Chi Chan Albert, Xu Hong-Xi
Chengdu University of TCM, Chengdu, China.
J Asian Nat Prod Res. 2008 Mar-Apr;10(3-4):373-81. doi: 10.1080/10286020801892250.
Puerarin (1) is a major effective ingredient extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine Ge-gen (Radix Puerariae, RP). Recently, puerarin has been used to treat patients with coronary artery diseases (CAD). However, the mechanisms of puerarin on CAD are still not very clear. In this study, we investigated the role of puerarin on serum nitric oxide (NO) concentration, myocardial endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene expression, the protein expression of eNOS and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), as well as the level of protein kinase B (Akt/PKB) phosphorylation in rats with myocardial infarction. We found that puerarin (120 mg/kg/day, i.p.) could increase serum nitrite concentration in rat with myocardial ischemia (MI). It also induced the gene expression or activation of eNOS, protein expression of eNOS, and the Akt/PKB phosphorylation. From these results, we suggested that puerarin could increase serum nitric oxide level of rat with myocardial infarction, which should be one of the mechanisms of the therapeutic effect of puerarin on CAD. The increased expression of eNOS and the Akt/PKB pathway may be the underlying mechanism by which puerarin stimulates NO production.
葛根素（1）是从传统中药葛根（Radix Puerariae，RP）中提取的主要有效成分。近年来，葛根素已被用于治疗冠状动脉疾病（CAD）患者。然而，葛根素治疗CAD的机制仍不是很清楚。在本研究中，我们研究了葛根素对心肌梗死大鼠血清一氧化氮（NO）浓度、心肌内皮型一氧化氮合酶（eNOS）基因表达、eNOS和诱导型一氧化氮合酶（iNOS）蛋白表达以及蛋白激酶B（Akt/PKB）磷酸化水平的作用。我们发现，葛根素（120 mg/kg/天，腹腔注射）可增加心肌缺血（MI）大鼠的血清亚硝酸盐浓度。它还诱导eNOS的基因表达或激活、eNOS蛋白表达以及Akt/PKB磷酸化。从这些结果来看，我们认为葛根素可增加心肌梗死大鼠的血清一氧化氮水平，这应该是葛根素治疗CAD疗效的机制之一。eNOS表达增加和Akt/PKB途径可能是葛根素刺激NO产生的潜在机制。
