The present study used isolated rat hearts to investigate whether (1) Sheng-Mei-San (SMS), a traditional Chinese formulation comprising
Radix Ginseng, Radix Ophiopogonis and
Fructus Schisandrae, is protective against post-ischemic myocardial dysfunction, and (2) whether the cardioprotective effect of SMS is related to scavenging of hydroxyl radicals and opening the mitochondrial K
ATP channels. The excised hearts of male Sprague-Dawley rats were perfused on a Langendorff apparatus with Krebs-Henseleit solution with a gas mixture of 95% O
2 and 5% CO
2. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP, mmHg), left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP, mmHg), ±dP/dt (mmHg/s) and coronary flow (ml/min) were continuously monitored. All hearts were perfused for a total of 120 min consisting of a 30-min pre-ischemic period followed by a 30-min global ischemia and 60-min reperfusion. Lactate, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (2,5-DHBA) concentrations in the effluent were measured during reperfusion. Three days' treatment with SMS (1.67 ml/kg per day) inhibited the rise in LVEDP and improved the post-ischemic LVDP and ±dP/dt significantly better than in the untreated control hearts during reperfusion. SMS increased the coronary flow at baseline, and during reperfusion. Pretreatment with 5-hydroxydecanoic acid (5-HD), a mitochondrial K
ATP channel blocker, abolished the inhibition of the rise in LVEDP, the increase in coronary flow and the improvement in LVDP and ±dP/dt induced by SMS. SMS significantly attenuated the concentrations of lactate, LDH and 2,5-DHBA during reperfusion, but the pretreatment with 5-HD restored them; 5-HD alone did not affect the concentrations. SMS improved the post-ischemic myocardial dysfunction through opening the mitochondrial K
ATP channels. (
Circ J 2002;
66: 763 - 768)
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