Effect of Zhen-wu decoction on chronic heart failure in rats

Purpose: To investigate the effect of Zhen-wu decoction (ZWD) on oxidative stress and hemodynamics in chronic congestive heart failure (CHF) rats.Methods: After Sprague Dawley (SD) rats were successfully prepared into CHF, they were randomly divided into normal control group, model (untreated CHF) group, captopril group, high-dose, middledose and low-dose of ZWD groups, and were treated with drugs for 4 weeks respectively. At the end of the experiment, hemodynamic function, whole heart weight index, blood creatinine kinase (CK), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) were determined.Results: Compared with normal control group, ZWD group showed decreased arterial systolic pressure (SBP, 89.16 ± 17.27 mmHg), diastolic pressure (DBP, 72.54 ± 22.36 mmHg), mean arterial pressure (MAP, 72.64 ± 11.87 mmHg), heart rate (HR, 368.25 ± 39.12 beats/min), left ventricular systolic peak (LVSP, 105.27 ± 15.23 mmHg), and left ventricular pressure change rate (dp/dt max) (p < 0.05), while left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) (19.52 ± 1.89 mmHg), whole heart weight index (2.74 ± 0.16 mg/g), blood CK (0.98 ± 0.16 U/mL), MDA (17.28 ± 2.94 nmol/mL), NO (36.35 ± 3.27 umol/L), NOS (39.89 ± 3.56 U/mL) significantly increased (p < 0.05). High dose of ZWD significantly improved hemodynamic function, lowered MDA (8.85 ± 2.14 nmol/mL) and NO (24.25 ± 3.21 umol/L) levels (p < 0.05), and also decreased CK (0.58 ± 0.37 U/mL) and NOS (26.12 ± 3.87 U/mL) in CHF rats (p < 0.05).Conclusion: ZWD improves adriamycin-induced chronic congestive heart failure in rats significantly, and therefore has potential to be developed for the management of chronic congestive heart failure.Keywords: Zhen-wu decoction, Chronic heart failure, Hemodynamic function, Oxidative stres