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Tonifying qi and Warming yang, a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, suppresses AngII-induced cardiac H9c2 cells apoptosis through regulating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

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Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the effects of Tonifying qi and Warming yang on Ang II-induced cardiac apoptosis and mitochondrial dysfunction and to explore the underlying mechanism. Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were treated with Tonifying qi and Warming yang, and the drug-contained serum was used in our experiment. Ang II-treated H9c2 cells were administered with drug-contained serum in different concentrations. The cell viability was determined by MTT and cell apoptosis was analyzed by the Flow cytometry instrument. The changes of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) was detected by Rho123 assay. qRT-PCR, Western blot and immunocytochemical staining were used to measure the mRNA and protein expression levels, respectively. Our results showed that drug-contained serum treatment prevented AngII-induced cell viability inhibition, suppressed AngII-induced apoptosis and prevented AngII-induced MMP reduction. Mechanically, drug-contained serum treatment prevented AngII-induced apoptosis by regulating expression of apoptosis-related genes, Bcl-2, Bax, Cyt-c, caspase-3, and PI3K. Besides, we found LY29400, an inhibitor of PI3K, reversed the effects of drug-contained serum treatment on apoptosis-related genes (p-AKT, Bcl-2, and Bax) in AngII-treated H9c2 cells. Totally, Tonifying qi and Warming yang, a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, suppresses AngII-induced cardiac H9c2 cells apoptosis through regulating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from the Key Laboratory of Myocardial (Harbin Medical University), Chinese Ministry of Education.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiovascular, the First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, 150040, China

    Guoliang Zou, Juan Jin, Yanbo Sui & Li Liu

  2. Department of Endocrine, the First Affiliated Hospital, Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine, Harbin, China

    Weili Zhong

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  1. Guoliang Zou
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  2. Weili Zhong
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  3. Juan Jin
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  4. Yanbo Sui
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  5. Li Liu
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Correspondence to Li Liu.

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Zou, G., Zhong, W., Jin, J. et al. Tonifying qi and Warming yang, a compound traditional Chinese herbal medicine, suppresses AngII-induced cardiac H9c2 cells apoptosis through regulating PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. Med Chem Res 27, 366–373 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00044-017-2043-2

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