Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Icariin protects myocardial cells in spontaneously hypertensive rats by inhibiting mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum stress-related pathways

Wen Li¹, Luhong Li², Siyu Guan²

¹Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Jingmen Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital, Jingmen 448000, Hubei Province, China; ²Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, Xiangyang Central Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Arts and Science, Xiangyang 441021, Hubei Province, China.

For correspondence:- Siyu Guan Email: hzhx20222022@163.com

Accepted: 29 July 2022 Published: 28 August 2022

Citation: Li W, Li L, Guan S. Icariin protects myocardial cells in spontaneously hypertensive rats by inhibiting mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum stress-related pathways. Trop J Pharm Res 2022; 21(8):1625-1631 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v21i8.7

© 2022 The authors.
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Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the protective effect of icariin (ICA) on myocardial cells in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), and the mechanism involved.

Methods: Twenty-four SPF-grade, 12-week-old SHRs were randomly assigned to model group and ICA group, with 12 rats/group. There were 12 Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats (aged 12 weeks) in the control group. Rats in ICA group were given ICA suspension (40 mg/kg) through gavage, daily for 3 months, while model rats were given equivalent volume of double distilled water (in place of ICA suspension) via gavage for 12 weeks. Blood pressure, cardiac function, left ventricular (LV) mass index, myocardial morphology and apoptosis-related protein levels were determined and compared among the four groups.

Results: The myocardial cells were hypertrophic and disorderly arranged, with widened intercellular spaces. Besides, there were increases in protein expression levels of p53, caspase 3, Bok, Bax, GRP78, p-PERK, ATF-4, CHOP and DR5, while Bcl-2 protein was down-regulated. In contrast, the levels of these indicators in the ICA group were significantly better than those in the model group (p < 0.05).

Conclusion: ICA reduces blood pressure in rats, but improves cardiac function and cardiomyocyte morphology by decreasing apoptosis in cardiomyocytes through down-regulation of mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-related apoptosis pathways. Thus, icariin may be suitable for the treatment of hypertension; however, clinical trials need to be undertaken first.

Keywords: Icariin, Hypertension, Apoptosis, Mitochondria, Endoplasmic reticulum stress, PERK, Bcl-2