Bicyclol Attenuates Obesity-induced Cardiomyopathy via Inhibiting NF-κB and MAPK Signaling Pathways

Purpose: Schisandra is a well-known traditional Chinese medicine in East Asia. As a traditional Chinese medicine derivative with Schisandra chinensis as raw material, bicyclol is well known for its significant anti-inflammatory effect. Chronic inflammation plays an significant part in obesity-induced cardiomyopathy. Our purpose was to explore the effect and mechanism of bicyclol on obesity-induced cardiomyopathy. Methods: Mice fed with a high-fat diet (HFD) and cardiomyocytes stimulated by palmitic acid (PA) were used as models of obesity-related cardiomyopathy in vivo and in vitro, respectively. The therapeutic effect of bicyclol on pathological changes such as myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis was evaluated by staining cardiac tissue sections. PCR was used to detect inflammatory factors in H9c2 cells and animal heart tissue after bicyclol treatment. Then, we used western blotting to detect the expression levels of myocardial hypertrophy related protein, myocardial fibrosis related protein, NF-κB and MAPK pathways.Results: Our results indicated that bicyclol treatment significantly alleviates HFD-induced myocardial inflammation, fibrosis and hypertrophy by inhibiting the MAPK and NF-κB pathways. Similar to animal level results, bicyclol could significantly inhibit PA-induced inflammation and prevent NF-κB and MAPK pathways to be activated.Conclusion: Our results showed that bicyclol is expected to become a potential drug to treat obesity-induced cardiomyopathy.