The Effect Of Shenqi Injection On Cardiac Collagen Metabolism In Mice With Viral Myocarditis

Objective:To investigate the effect of Shenqi Fuzheng injection (Shenqi) on the cardiac collagen metabolism in mice with viral myocarditis (VMC) and to provide experimental evidence for its clinical application and for the anti fibrosis effect of Chinese medicine, and important practical value and clinical significance for the functional mechanism research of traditional Chinese medicine preparation.Methods:A total of 120 4-week-old BALB/c male mice were randomly divided into 5 groups, 24 mice per group, including:the normal group(A), viral group(B), ribavirin group(C), Shenqi low dose group(D), Shenqi Fuzheng injection(shortened as Shenqi) group(E). B-D groups received an injection of CVB3 diluted in saline (0.1ml inteaperitoneally).8 mice of each group were respectively killed on day 3, 10, 30 after inoculation. Blood was obtained by eye-ball excision, and their hearts were removed sterily and examined as follows:(1)Histopathologic examination of the heart was observed by optical microscope.(2)Myocardial tissue collagens were observed by staining of Sirus red in supersaturated picric acid solution.(3) The protein expression of MMP-1 and TIMP-1 was detected by immunohistochemical methods.(4)PICP and PIIINP were measured quantitatively by using enzyme-linked immunoadsorbent assay(ELISA)method.Results:1. Pathological changes of myocardium: No pathological changes were found in myocardium in Group A and the pathological damage was reduced to minimum in group E.2.Compared with Group A, Group B showed a significant increase in the collagens(8.61±0.38%vs1.51±0.17%,P<0.01). Compared with that of Group B, after 30 days inoculation, collagenous volumertric fraction (CVF) in Group C and D was greatly reduced(4.37±0.31%vs8.61±0.38%,3.71±0.25%vs8.61±0.38%,P<0.05) and significantly decreased (2.95±0.14%vs8.61±0.38%,P<0.01) in Group E.3. Immunohistochemical examination showed that MMP-1 in Group C and D was obviously higher than in Group B (P<0.05) significantly increased in Group E (P<0.01) .The comparison of TIMP-1 in Group B, C, D, and E has not statistics significance.4. The examination by ELISA revealed that the expression of PICP,PIIINP in Group B was higher than that of Group A (P<0.01), the expression of PICP,PIIINP in Group C, D, and E was remarkably reduced in comparison with that of Group B ( P<0.05). Conclusion:Shenqi injection can promote collagen degradation through enhancing activeness of MMP-1.so as to intervene in myocardial fibrosis. Meanwhile, Shenqi can reduce the expression of PICP and PIIINP in mice with VMC, which maybe due to attenuate cardiac collagen synthesis.