Chinese Medicine Supplementing Qi and Activating Blood CirculationRelieves the Progression of Diabetic Cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND: Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the leading cause of diabetic death as the final occurrence of heart failure and arrhythmia. Traditional Chinese medicine is usually used to treat various diseases including diabetes. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to investigate the effects of Traditional Chinese medicine supplementing Qi and activating blood circulation (SAC) in DCM. METHODS: After the construction of the DCM model by streptozotocin (STZ) injection and high glucose/fat diet feeding, rats were administered intragastrically with SAC. Then, cardiac systolic/diastolic function was evaluated by detecting left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), maximal rate of left ventricular pressure rise (+LVdp/dtmax), and fall (-LVdp/dtmax), heart rate (HR), left ventricular ejection fraction (EF), LV fractional shortening (FS) and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP). Masson’s and TUNEL staining were used to assess fibrosis and cardiomyocyte apoptosis. RESULTS: DCM rats exhibited impaired cardiac systolic/diastolic function manifested by decreasing LVSP, + LVdp/dtmax, -LVdp/dtmax, HR, EF and FS, and increasing LVEDP. Intriguingly, traditional Chinese medicine SAC alleviated the above-mentioned symptoms, indicating a potential role in improving cardiac function. Masson’s staining substantiated that SAC antagonized the increased collagen deposition and interstitial fibrosis area and the elevations in protein expression of fibrosis-related collagen I and fibronectin in heart tissues of DCM rats. Furthermore, TUNEL staining confirmed that traditional Chinese medicine SAC also attenuated cardiomyocyte apoptosis in DCM rats. Mechanically, DCM rats showed the aberrant activation of the TGF-β/Smad signaling, which was inhibited after SAC. CONCLUSION: SAC may exert cardiac protective efficacy in DCM rats via the TGF-β/Smad signaling, indicating a new promising therapeutic approach for DCM.