Context: Guanxin V (GX), a traditional Chinese medicine formula, is safe and effective in the treatment of coronary artery disease. However, its protective effect on myocardial ischaemia reperfusion injury (MIRI) is unclear.
Objective: To investigate the cardioprotective effect of GX on MIRI and explore the potential mechanism.
Materials and methods: Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into Sham, MIRI and MIRI + GX groups. GX (6 g/kg) was administered to rats via intragastric administration for seven days before ischaemia reperfusion (IR) surgery. The infarct size, histopathology, serum enzyme activities, ultrastructure of the cardiac mitochondria were assessed. H9c2 cells were pre-treated with GX (0.5 mg/mL), and then exposed to hypoxia/reoxygenation (HR). The cell viability and LDH levels were measured. Network pharmacology was conducted to predict the potential mechanism. The related targets of GX were predicted using the TCMSP database, DrugBank database, etc. Finally, pharmacological experiments were used to validate the predicted results.
Results: In vivo, GX significantly reduced the myocardial infarct size from 56.33% to 17.18%, decreased the levels of AST (239.32 vs. 369.18 U/L), CK-MB (1324.61 vs. 2066.47 U/L) and LDH (1245.26 vs. 1969.62 U/L), and reduced mitochondrial damage. In vitro, GX significantly increased H9c2 cell viability (IC50 = 3.913 mg/mL) and inhibited the release of LDH (207.35 vs. 314.33). In addition, GX could maintain iron homeostasis and reduce oxidative stress level by regulating iron metabolism-associated proteins.
Conclusions: GX can attenuate MIRI via regulating iron homeostasis, indicating that GX may act as a potential candidate for the treatment of MIRI.
Keywords: Cardioprotective effect; iron accumulation; iron metabolism; network pharmacology; oxidative stress.