Danqi soft capsule prevents infarct border zone remodelling and reduces susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias in post‐myocardial infarction rats

Figures

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  Figure 1. Effects of DQ on cardiac structure and function. A, Representative examples of M‐mode echocardiograms of the three groups 5 weeks after MI. B, LVEF. C, LVFS. D, LVIDd. E, LVIDs. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs Sham group, # P < 0.05 vs MI group, n = 15 rats/group

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  Figure 2. Effects of DQ on PES‐induced ventricular tachyarrhythmia. A, Various ventricular arrhythmias induced by programmed electrical stimulation in rats. a, Eight basic stimuli (S1) at cycle lengths of 120 ms and three extra‐stimuli (S2, S3 and S4) induced no ventricular tachycardia (VT). b, Eight basic stimuli (S1) and two extra‐stimuli (S2 and S3) induced non‐sustained VT. c, Eight basic stimuli (S1) and one extra‐stimulus (S2) induced sustained VT. B, Inducibility of VT 5 weeks after infarction. C, Scores of inducible VT. *P < 0.05 vs Sham group, # P < 0.05 vs MI group, n = 15 rats/group

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  Figure 3. Effect of DQ on interstitial fibrosis. A, Representative images showing ventricular myocardial fibrosis (Masson stain, which stains fibrosis blue and viable muscle red). B, Statistical results of percentage of infarcted areas (n = 5 rats/group). C, Statistical results of fibrosis areas in the infarct border zone. DQ reduced fibrosis‐positive area (n = 5 rats/group). D, DQ reduced the protein levels of collagen Ⅰ as assessed by Western blot (n = 5 rats/group). E, DQ reduced the protein levels of collagen III as assessed by Western blot (n = 5 rats/group). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs Sham group, # P < 0.05, ## P < 0.01 vs MI group

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  Figure 4. Effect of DQ on Cx43 expression and distribution. A, Representative immunohistochemical staining data for the infarct border zone (Scale bar: 20 um). B, Percentages of Cx43 positive areas among the four groups (n = 5 rats/group). C, TQ increased the protein levels of Cx43 in the infarct border zone as assessed by Western blot (n = 5 rats/group). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs Sham group, # P < 0.05, ## P < 0.01 vs MI group

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  Figure 5. Effect of DQ on myocyte hypertrophy. A, Quantitative analysis of HW/BW (n = 10 rats/group). B, Quantitative analysis of LVW/BW (n = 10 rats/group). C, Haematoxylin and eosin staining of representative cross‐sections of cardiac myocytes. D, Quantitative analysis of myocyte cross‐sectional areas (n = 5 rats/group). E, ANP mRNA qRT‐PCR analysis (n = 5 rats/group). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs Sham group, # P < 0.05, ## P < 0.01 vs MI group

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  Figure 6. Effect of DQ on fibroblasts differentiation to myofibroblasts. A, DQ reduced the protein levels of α‐SMA as assessed by Western blot (n = 5 rats/group). B, DQ reduced the protein levels of TGF‐β1 as assessed by Western blot (n = 5 rats/group). C, DQ had no effect on the protein levels of Smad3 as assessed by Western blot (n = 5 rats/group). D, DQ reduced the protein levels of p‐Smad3 as assessed by Western blot (n = 5 rats/group). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs Sham group, # P < 0.05, ## P < 0.01 vs MI group

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  Figure 7. Effects of DQ on serum levels of BNP, MCP‐1 and TGF‐β1. A, Serum levels of BNP, decreased by DQ (n = 10 rats/group). B, Serum levels of MCP‐1, decreased by DQ (n = 10 rats/group). C, Serum levels of TGF‐β1, decreased by DQ (n = 10 rats/group). *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01 vs Sham group, # P < 0.05, ## P < 0.01 vs MI group