Department of Blood Transfusion, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China.
Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2012;2012:282383. doi: 10.1155/2012/282383. Epub 2012 Jan 29.
Astragalus mongholicus Bunge has long been used to treat cardiovascular disease in Chinese traditional medicine. However, its mechanisms are not fully understood. In this study, we explored potential mechanisms and protective effects of total flavonoids of Astragalus (TFA) on cardiovascular disease using in vitro experiments and diet-induced atherosclerotic rabbits. We identified six components and their proportion in TFA. The animal experiments showed that TFA significantly reduced plasma levels of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (P < 0.05 to 0.01), increased HDL cholesterol levels (P < 0.01), and reduced the aortic fatty streak area by 43.6 to 63.6% (P < 0.01). We also found that TFA scavenged superoxide and hydroxyl radicals and this effect increased with higher TFA concentration. In in vivo experiments, TFA effectively inhibited the free radical spectrum in the ischemia-reperfusion module. In conclusion, TFA was the active component of Astragalus mongholicus Bunge, which benefits cardiovascular disease attributing to the potent antioxidant activity to improve the atherosclerosis profile.
蒙古黄芪长期以来一直被用于中医治疗心血管疾病。然而，其机制尚未完全阐明。在这项研究中，我们使用体外实验和饮食诱导的动脉粥样硬化兔模型，探讨了黄芪总黄酮（TFA）对心血管疾病的潜在机制和保护作用。我们鉴定了 TFA 中的六种成分及其比例。动物实验表明，TFA 可显著降低血浆总胆固醇和 LDL 胆固醇水平（P<0.05 至 0.01），增加 HDL 胆固醇水平（P<0.01），并使主动脉脂肪条纹面积减少 43.6%至 63.6%（P<0.01）。我们还发现 TFA 能清除超氧阴离子和羟自由基，且这种作用随 TFA 浓度的增加而增强。在体内实验中，TFA 能有效抑制缺血再灌注模块中的自由基谱。总之，TFA 是蒙古黄芪的活性成分，其通过强大的抗氧化活性改善动脉粥样硬化特征，有益于心血管疾病。
