[Effect of moxibustion combined with benazepril on expression of IL-18 and phosphorylated protein kinase B in myocardial tissue of rats with chronic heart failure].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of moxibustion combined with benazepril on cardiac function and expression levels of myocardial interleukin-18(IL-18), phosphorylated protein kinase B(p-Akt) in rats with chronic heart failure (CHF), so as to explore its underlying mechanisms in improvement of CHF. METHODS: =10 rats per group). The CHF model was established by intraperitoneal injection of doxorubicin hydrochloride solution (DOX, 2.5 mg/kg) twice a week for 4 weeks. After successful modeling, the rats in the normal and model groups were fed with normal diet, and fixed on a rat plate for 20 min each time without any treatment. Mild moxibustion was applied to bilateral "Feishu" (BL13) and "Xinshu" (BL15) for 20 min each time, for 3 weeks in the moxibustion and moxibustion+benazepril groups. Rats of the benazepril and moxibustion+benazepril groups received gavage of benazepril (2 mg/kg) once daily for 3 weeks. The general behaviors of rats were observed. The ejection fraction (EF), left ventricular diameter shortening (FS), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVIDd), left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVIDs), heart rate (HR) and ventricular septal thickness (IVS) were examined by echocardiography. The content of serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and expression levels of myocardial IL-18, p-Akt were detected by Western blot. CONCLUSION: Moxibustion combined with benazepril improves cardiac function in CHF rats, and is superior to simple moxibustion and simple benazepril in reducing IL-18 expression and increasing p-Akt expression in myocardial tissue.