| Objective: To evaluate the effect of berberine intervention on left ventricular hypertrophy and systolic function in rats by ultrasound layered strain imaging and myocardial hypertrophy model.Methods: Eighty healthy male SD rats were randomly divided into 4 groups.Group A（normal saline control group）,group B（isoproterenol induced model group）,group C（berberine hydrochloride 5 mg/kg+ isoproterenol group）,and group D（berberine hydrochloride 10mg/kg+ isoproterenol group）.Echocardiography was performed on day1 before medication,day 7 and day 14,respectively.Conventional structural and functional parameters such as left ventricular posterior wall and end diastolic septum thickness,heart rate and left ventricular ejection fraction were measured and recorded.Strain parameters such as the overall circumferential strain value of the subendocardial myocardium were measured and recorded by ultrasonic layered strain imaging technology.The myocardial tissue at papillary muscle level was taken for pathological examination,and masson pine trichromatic staining and hematoxylin-eosin staining were performed.The morphology of myocardial tissue cells was observed under the light microscope,and the percentage of myocardial fibrosis tissue expression area was calculated.The key proteins of Rho/ROCK signaling pathway such as ROCK-1,Rho A,Bax,Bcl-2 were quantitatively analyzed by immunohistochemical staining technology.Results: On the 14 th day of administration,compared with group A,ejection fraction of rats in group B was significantly decreased,ventricular septal thickness and left ventricular posterior wall thickness were significantly increased,both of which were statistically significant,and myocardial hypertrophy was successfully modeled on the14 th day.On the 7th day of administration,compared with group A,the subendocardial and middle myocardial circumferential strain values of rats in group B,group C and group D decreased significantly（P<0.001）.Subendocardial and middle myocardial circumferential strain values in group B was significantly lower than those in groups C and D（-24.21 vs.-26.68 vs.-27.69;-14.90 vs.-16.48 vs.-17.69）.Pathological results showed that compared with the cardiomyocytes of control group A,the cross-sectional area of cardiomyocytes in group B was significantly increased,with cell hypertrophy,disorder of arrangement and structure,significantly widened cell space,and obvious myocardial interstitial fibrosis.Compared with group B,berberine intervention reduced fibrotic deposition in groups C and D,and the reduction was more pronounced in group D.The results of Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the overall circumferential strain of the subendocardial myocardium was positively correlated with the percentage of myocardial interstitial fiber deposition（r=0.805,P<0.001）.Immunohistochemical results showed that compared with group A,the protein expression levels of ROCK,Rho A and Bax in groups B,C and D were significantly increased,while the protein expression levels of Bcl-2 were significantly decreased.Compared with group B,the protein expression levels of Rho A,ROCK and Bax in groups C and D were decreased,while the protein expression levels of Bcl-2 were increased.Conclusion: Ultrasound layered strain imaging technique can evaluate the early changes of left ventricular systolic function in a rat model of isoproterenol-induced myocardial hypertrophy.Berberine can inhibit oxidative stress through the Rho/ROCK signaling pathway and slow down the progression of myocardial fibrosis after the formation of myocardial hypertrophy.Ultrasound layered strain imaging technology can evaluate the efficacy of short-term drug intervention. |
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