Protective Effect And Mechanismof Asiatic Acid On Myocardial Ischemia‐reperfusion Injury

Objective:To explore the protective effect and mechanisms of asiatic acid(AA) on myocardial ischemia‐reperfusion injury(I‐R).Methods and Results:In this study, we investigated the cardioprotective effects and mechanisms of AA in Cardiac cells of newborn rat simulated by oxygen‐glucose deprivation /reoxygenation(OGD/R) in vitro and a mice model of MI/R injury by ligation left anterior decending(LAD) coronary artery in vivo. We found that the mice displayed progressive left vetricular(LV) dilation, Cardiac function decline and significant infarction post‐surgery. Pretreated with AA significantly ameliorated cardiac dysfunction and reduced infarct size. Furthermore AA inhibited ROS‐induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in cardiac myocytes both in vitro and in vivo. AA also reduced the Bax/Bcl‐2 ratio, the release of cytochrome c, and the expression of cleaved caspase‐9 and ‐3, as well as blocked the phosphorylation of p38,ERK1/2 and JNK both in vitro and in vivo.Conclusions: The protective mechanisms of AA in myocardial I‐R injury were found to be associated with the inhibition of ROS‐induced cardiomyocyte apoptosis via blocking MAPK signals and mitochondria‐dependent caspase activation.