Angelica sinensis Polysaccharide Alleviates Myocardial Fibrosis and Oxidative Stress in the Heart of Hypertensive Rats

Figures

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  Figure 1. ASP treatment alleviates cardiac function in vivo. The rats were induced to hypertensive heart disease (HHD) rats by high-fat diet (HFD) randomly divided into three doses of ASP-treated groups and a vehicle-treated group. Meanwhile, the standard diet-fed rats were treated with distill water as a normal control group. (a) The body weight was measured during the experimental process. (b) Left ventricle function was measured including left ventricle end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), left ventricle end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), left ventricle end-systolic diameter (LVESD) and left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV), left ventricular ejection fraction (EF), and left ventricular short axis shortening rate (FS). Three independent experiments were performed. The graph shows the mean ± SD calculated for at least three experiments. ∗or #p < 0.05, ∗∗or ##p < 0.01.

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  Figure 2. ASP treatment inhibits cardiac fibrosis in vivo. H&E (a) and Masson's (b) staining assays were performed to demonstrate the effects of ASP on cardiac fibrosis of rat left ventricular tissues. (c) Immunohistochemical analysis of α-SMA and TGF-β1 protein levels in rat left ventricular tissues. (d) LVMI was measured in the different sample groups. The expression levels of collagen I, α-SMA, fibronectin, and vimentin were evaluated by performing RT-qPCR (e) and western blot assays (f) in the different sample groups. Protein expression levels relative to β-actin levels are shown. Three independent experiments were performed. The graph shows the mean ± SD calculated for at least three experiments. ∗or #p < 0.05, ∗∗or ##p < 0.01.

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  Figure 3. ASP treatment inhibits the apoptosis of cardiomyocytes in vivo. TUNEL staining assays were performed to demonstrate the apoptosis of cardiac myocytes in rat left ventricular tissues. The expression levels of Bax, Bcl-2, cleaved caspase-3, and cleaved caspase-9 were evaluated by performing RT-qPCR (b) and western blot assay (c) in the different sample groups. Protein expression levels relative to β-actin levels are shown. Three independent experiments were performed. The graph shows the mean ± SD calculated for at least three experiments. ∗or #p < 0.05, ∗∗or ##p < 0.01, and ∗∗∗or ###p < 0.001.

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  Figure 4. ASP treatment alleviates oxidative stress of cardiomyocytes in vivo. Five oxidative and antioxidative parameters including the activity of GSH-Px and SOD, the level of ROS, endogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and MDA were determined by the corresponding measure in the left ventricle tissues from different group rats. Three independent experiments were performed. The graph shows the mean ± SD calculated for at least three experiments. ∗or #p < 0.05, ∗∗or ##p < 0.01.