The Effects Of Chinese Herbs-"Xinlisheng" And Western Drugs On Chronic Heart Failure In Rats

With the aging of population and the development in treatment of hypertension and coronary heart disease, the incidence and death rate of congestive heart failure (CHF) are growing and become an important cardiovascular problem. Pharmacological therapy is currently the major treatment of heart failure although its efficay is still not satisfactory. It is of significance to find some novel and more effective drugs in management of heart failure including Chinese traditionnal medicine.Traditional Chinese herbs, "xinlisheng", invented by the late doctor Ding Mingjiu practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, has been applicated in clinical practice for three decades .The study was to investigate the effects of "xinlisheng", captopril and bevantolol on CHF in rats.1. Materials and methods1.1 Animal models: 280 male Wistar rats with body weights 230-250g were enrolled into the study. Of these 280 rats, 250 underwent an operation of ligation of coronary artery so as to lead CHF, 17 were sham-operated and 13 were normal controls. In 5 weeks after operation, the rats with LVEF≤45% were definited as a group of CHF and those with 45 % < LVEF ≤ 60 % were classified a group of cardiac dysfunction(Dys).1.2 Animal groups1.2.1 Rats with heart failure:1.2.1.1 Control group (CHF-Con) in 10 rats.1.2.1.2 "Xinlisheng" group (CHF-X) in 10 rats.1.2.1.3 Captopril group (CHF-Cap) in 10 rats.1.2.1.4 Bevantolol group (CHF-B) in 14 rats.1.2.2 Rats with cardiac dysfunction:1.2.2.1 Control group (Dys-Con) in 9 rats.1.2.2.2 "Xinlisheng" group (Dys-X) in 10 rats.