Department of Cardiac Surgery, The PLA General Hospital, Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing 100098, P.R. China.
Int J Mol Med. 2014 Jan;33(1):227-33. doi: 10.3892/ijmm.2013.1546. Epub 2013 Nov 1.
Huperzine A (HupA), an alkaloid used in traditional Chinese medicine and isolated from Huperzia serrata, has been shown to possess diverse biological activities. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the cardioprotective potential of HupA in myocardial ischemic damage using a rat model of acute myocardial infarction. HupA significantly diminished the infarct size and inhibited the activities of myocardial enzymes, including creatine kinase (CK), the MB isoenzyme of creatine kinase (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and cardiac troponin T (cTnT). A significantly reduced activity of malondialdehyde (MDA) and elevated activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), of the non-enzymatic scavenger enzyme, glutathione (GSH), as well as of glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) were found in the HupA-treated groups. Furthermore, decreased protein levels of caspase-3 and Bax, and increased levels of Bcl-2 were observed in the infarcted hearts of the rats treated with various concentrations of HupA. In addition, treatment with HupA markedly inhibited the expression of the nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) subunit p65, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). These findings suggest that the cardioprotective potential of HupA is associated with its antioxidant, anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory properties in acute myocardial infarction in rats.
石杉碱甲（HupA）是一种从蛇足石杉中分离出来的生物碱，应用于传统中药，具有多种生物活性。本研究采用大鼠急性心肌梗死模型，评估 HupA 对心肌缺血损伤的心脏保护作用。结果表明，HupA 可显著减小梗死面积，抑制心肌酶活性，包括肌酸激酶（CK）、肌酸激酶同工酶-MB（CK-MB）、乳酸脱氢酶（LDH）和心肌肌钙蛋白 T（cTnT）。同时，HupA 处理组丙二醛（MDA）活性显著降低，非酶清除剂超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、谷胱甘肽（GSH）和谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶（GSH-PX）的活性升高。此外，在 HupA 治疗的大鼠梗死心脏中，观察到半胱天冬酶-3 和 Bax 蛋白水平降低，Bcl-2 蛋白水平升高。此外，HupA 治疗还显著抑制了核因子-κB（NF-κB）亚基 p65、肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）和白细胞介素-1β（IL-1β）的表达。这些发现表明，HupA 的心脏保护作用与其在大鼠急性心肌梗死中的抗氧化、抗凋亡和抗炎特性有关。
